Volunteers participating in the inaugural North Coast Cleanup Day picked up 421 pounds of trash at northern Santa Cruz County beaches today, according to event organizers.
Save Our Shores, a non-profit marine conservation organization based in Santa Cruz, announced that with the help of 36 volunteers, today's inaugural North Coast Cleanup Day, prevented 421 pounds of trash and debris from polluting waterways.
[Previous: Several Sunday Beach Cleanups: Take Your Pick!.]
North Coast Cleanup Day volunteers removed trash from Davenport, Panther, Bonny Doon, Four Mile and Shark Tooth beaches. Save Our Shores chose to target these beaches because they felt the public consistently trashed them by not cleaning up after parties, camping and heavy foot traffic.
The most common item found was cigarette butts and food wrappers, event organizers said.
Save Our Shores Program Coordinator Marina Maze said Panther Beach was the dirtiest cleanup site of the morning with more than 125 pounds of waste collected. She said the beach is consistently hit with parties and heavy foot traffic during warm summer weekends.
The Shark Tooth Beach cleanup was the second most-polluted beach, yielding 82 pounds of trash collected.
Neva Healer, a volunteer with The Diversity Center, which brought 30 volunteers to the beaches, said "It's appalling I had no idea Panther Beach would be so full of trash. It was really surprising."
The next North Coast Cleanup Days will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. on July 27 and Aug. 24.
For more information on the upcoming locations visit saveourshores.org.
--Bay City News
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