Cigarette butts, plastic bottle caps, food wrappers and clothing items were the most common trash picked up by volunteers on Santa Barbara’s coastline Saturday morning.
Equipped with reusable gloves, bags or buckets, local participants at 26 cleanup sites in Santa Barbara County participated in International Coastal Cleanup Day. The single-day collection effort aimed to clear debris from the beaches and litter from waterways.
“From coast-to-coast, this event brings awareness and increases participation to clean up and stop pollution,” said Javier Reveles, a volunteer captain at Leadbetter Beach in Santa Barbara.
“We want to expand the realization about the impact of trash and about being consciousness about what will happen to trash if it’s not thrown away properly.”
Volunteers collected more than 3,125 pounds of trash during the three-hour event in the county.
Statewide during the 2015 cleanup, more than 68,300 volunteers removed nearly 1.14 million pounds of trash and recyclables from California’s beaches, creeks, lakes and waterways, according to Project Clean Water.
Santa Barbara County contributed to that effort in 2015 with 1,029 volunteers collecting more than 2,875 pounds of trash and 1,348 pounds of recyclables from 25 sites from Rincon Beach Park to Rancho Guadalupe Dunes.
Globally in 2015, more than 18 million pounds of waste were collected by nearly 800,000 volunteers during the 2015 International Coastal Cleanup, according to the Ocean Conservancy.
Stooping to pick up a plastic straw on Leadbetter Beach, volunteer Stephanie Landam acknowledged that trash items pose great threats to marine life, as they can entangle animals or be mistaken for food.
“There’s a lot of little bits of plastic,” she said. “It’s appalling to see the man-made trash stuck in the water. It’s dangerous for people and also animals.”
A few miles to the east, another volunteer registration table was set up at East Beach by Tomorrows Green, a youth-oriented environmental organization founded by Dos Pueblos High School freshman Josh Benson and members of Okeanos Swimwear, a Santa Barbara-based swimsuit line.
“It’s overwhelming how much trash is at the beach,” the 14-year-old said. “We are here to help the environment and join to stop the ocean pollution.”
Okeanos Swimwear vice president Chris Briones joined more than 15 volunteers at East Beach. Earlier this year, she plucked 62 cigarette butts and 70 pounds of trash during a one-day beach cleanup.
She stressed the need for protecting coastal beaches for the future.
“We are a swimsuit brand, and my daughter and I have a passion for the ocean,” Briones explained. “We need to think about the next generation and bring awareness about the impacts of trash.”
Explore Ecology coordinated the countywide effort, and more than 800 individuals, nonprofit organizations, businesses and governmental agencies volunteered.
“The primary goal is to keep items from entering waterways, educating the community and getting people outside to see the waste,” said Mariana Cruz, Explore Ecology education director and Santa Barbara County Coastal Cleanup outreach coordinator.
“Considering the quality of water in the area, we want to protect the animals and ocean. We want to prevent items from making their way into the ocean, and educating people about preventing waste.”
Cruz expressed gratitude to the younger generation and community members involved in the day’s effort.
“It’s the youth who will be leading this in the future,” she said. “It is a community effort and it’s great to see everyone come together for a cause. We are contributing.”
Beach and waterway cleanups are a year-round effort in Santa Barbara, with the Urban Creeks Council holding a cleanup effort the second Saturday of each month.
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
