Thank you to the 56 volunteers and two girl scout troops who gave up their Saturday morning to come and collect trash from Montara State Beach and Grey Whale Cove as part of the California Coastal Clean Up Day 2008. Over 40 bags of trash and recyclable material were removed from the beaches and bluffs along with various car parts, dumped construction material and highway trash. Here is a small sample of the items collected by the volunteers:

1881 Cigarette butts
103 Plastic bags
143 Plastic bottles
182 Glass bottles
50 Soda cans
190 Plastic lids
406 Food wrappers
36 Toys
111 Plastic forks, knives and spoons
7 Condoms
5 Diapers
112 Charcoal Bricks
120 Palette nails

In total over 450LBs of trash was removed. Volunteers reported that the most prevalent item on the beach by far was styrofoam and cigarette butts. Thousands and thousands of tiny pieces of plastic and styrofoam were collected from the tide line and bluffs, unfortunately a large amount of this material had to be left on the beach as it is just too time consuming to pick up every single piece.

It was great to see the beach and bluffs completely litter free, if only for a few hours, on my drive to work this morning I noticed fresh trash was already beginning to appear.

Amazing amount of recyclable “waste,” except for the condoms and butts, of course. 

I wish the CRV-alone from over 200 bottles and cans would motivate folks to pick up after themselves, but I guess that’s only ten bucks.  Hmm…

450 lbs. Kevin!  Wow!  Congrats - although, that’s bittersweet to say, isn’t it?

It was a good day, yes. Just for reference year before last 650LBs was collected. I’m looking forward to the day where beach clean ups are not needed, in my lifetime.

“I?m looking forward to the day where beach clean ups are not needed, in my lifetime.”

This was a topic for discussion at last night’s Surfrider meeting.  Ed would like to see the same as what you’ve expressed, Barry.  I am cynical and voiced that if folks driving north-south on Route 1, or east-west on Route 92, roads that enjoy the freedom of no traffic lights, can’t even self-police themselves to slow down to allow waiting cars to pull-out and get on the road, then I expect folks will also never manage their garbage. 

Some get it, some just don’t.

Say it isn’t so?  Is there a way to educate the public, the visitors from over the hill, and residents alike, to pick up after themselves before exiting our (and I mean that in a geographic collective-sense) beaches?

Oh, sorry Kevin - the email says that it’s sent from “Barry Parr” and that’s all that I read - you made the “in my lifetime” comment.  Got it now!

Barry:  emailed comments used to say from Coastsider, didn’t they?  Can that return?  :)  Otherwise, I’ll be more attentive.

Hey! No problem, it would not be the first time in my life that I have been misquoted :-)

It would be great if we could get signs like these posted prominently on Highway 1 and Highway 92. I made this up in Photoshop but I think it would clearly send a message to visitors that we Coastsiders care about where we live.

Hi Kevin et al,

What would it cost to make about 25 of these signs? I know it would be up to CalTrans to put these up but it might be possible if private sources paid for the signs.

I think they are still made in prisons, and I believe that there are many rules and regulations that govern road sign design. Therefore no signs can be made by a private entity. If someone is knowledgeable on this subject I would love to know what we as private citizens can do to facilitate a new road-sign design and get them erected.