Under the most unprecedented circumstances in the event’s history, tens of thousands of Californians participated in a month-long cleanup effort as part of the 36th Annual California Coastal Cleanup.

Ordinarily held on just one day each September, the state’s largest annual volunteer event, organized by the California Coastal Commission, was spread over the course of the entire month of September to give volunteers opportunities to participate while remaining physically distanced and safe.

In Santa Barbara County, 776 volunteers cleaned up 3,918 pounds of trash and picked up 17,444 pieces of litter. The top items this year were cigarette butts at 3,130, plastic pieces at 2,848, and food wrappers at 2,064. Volunteers covered an estimated total of 68 miles throughout the county.

“Thank you to everyone who made our first ever Santa Barbara County Coastal Cleanup Month a success,” said Julia Keane, Coastal Cleanup Month coordinator for Explore Ecology. “Coastal Cleanup Month was a unique opportunity to clean up our neighborhood streets, a place that can sometimes get neglected.

“While monitoring the numbers over the month, I thought that plastic pieces would beat out cigarette butts for the top spot, but as it turns out, they are still our number one pollutant in Santa Barbara County.

“Cigarette butts actually have a plastic filter in them which does not decompose when it gets into the environment. This is why it’s so important to stop pollution at the source before it becomes marine debris.”

Statewide, volunteers answered the call to clean California’s coast from their own front door. More than 10,000 people turned out at some 3,000 cleanups across the state, gathering nearly 70,000 pounds of trash from neighborhoods, local parks, creeks, and other natural spaces.

People went out individually, in pairs, and in small groups, on foot, in boats, on streets and trails. Many people did more than one cleanup over the month, finding it an easy and way to give back to the state.

Trash in California can flow easily through stormwater systems to reach the coast and ocean once the rains begin, so cleaning neighborhoods and inland areas is one way of preventing trash from polluting the coast.

“Californians cherish our coast, and they proved it yet again under the most trying circumstances most of us have ever faced,” said Jack Ainsworth, executive director of the California Coastal Commission.

“Everything in California flows downhill to our coast, so while this year’s cleanup effort may have been unusual, it was still an important and effective way to engage in coastal stewardship,” he said.

The Coastal Commission continues to highlight the damage trash can cause to California’s wildlife, economy, and even human health.

According to past cleanup data, 75 percent of the debris that volunteers remove is composed of plastic — most of it single-use, disposable plastic — a material that never completely biodegrades and has numerous harmful consequences in the environment.

Plastic pollution can kill wildlife, leach toxins into the environment, and even introduce them into the food chain. Since up to 80 percent of the trash on the California coast originates on land, volunteers across the state helped prevent enormous amounts of trash from ever reaching the ocean, no matter where they participated.

Volunteers are urged to take a survey about their Coastal Cleanup Month experience at Coastal-Cleanup-Day-2020-Volunteer-Survey.

Volunteers who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing for the Cleanup Prize Package which includes a $100 VISA gift card, a 2019 Coastal Cleanup t-shirt, a vintage Coastal Cleanup poster, a zippered canvas tote bag, and a Camelbak water bottle.

“Coastal Cleanup Month was a great way for us to see how many people care about their environment and their neighborhoods,” Keane said. “It was very encouraging to see everyone get outside and participate in socially distanced cleanups throughout their communities. However, the momentum doesn’t have to stop here.

“You can make this a regular habit by bringing a bag every time you go for a walk. Or practice reducing your own waste by using reusable items. These are just a couple of ways to keep up the enthusiasm.

“Explore Ecology will continue to be a resource for how to be a good steward of the environment, so sign up for our newsletter, follow us on social media, and stay tuned for what’s next.”

In Santa Barbara County, Coastal Cleanup Day is brought to the community by Explore Ecology, and the Santa Barbara County Resource Recovery and Waste Management. The cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Solvang also give support.

For details about Coastal Cleanup 2021, visit ExploreEcology.org/Coastal-Cleanup-Day/.

California Coastal Cleanup is supported by the California Coastal Commission, California State Parks Foundation, and Ocean Conservancy. This event is made possible by the hard work of hundreds of local non-profits and government agencies throughout the state and tens of thousands of volunteers annually.

For more about Explore Ecology, visit ExploreEcology.org.