Coastal Cleanup at Malibu Lagoon: 17 September, 2016

Trash buckets stand at attention  (Photo: Kirsten Wahlquist 9-17-16)

       Once again we volunteered to run the 2016
coastal cleanup at Malibu Lagoon!

Photo: Kirsten Wahlquist 9-17-16

Special thanks to all the volunteers who took their trash to the dumpster after it was weighed.  We also want to congratulate the growing number of people who brought their own cleanup supplies.  There was only one mishap: the gloves we were supplied turned out to be dried and crystallized, breaking into little pieces when pulled apart.  Next time when we get the supplies from Heal the Bay, we promise to immediately  open the boxes of gloves and check them out.  Fortunately, people could use trash bags and large pieces of paper to pick up items.

Photo: Kirsten Wahlquist 9-17-16

Unusual Items:  One shopping cart, a mattress, one cinder block  and the carcasses of dead birds were found.  The most trash was around the river’s edge near the bridge.  As usual there were always innumerable cigarette butts and other trash around the parking lot.  We encouraged people to concentrate on tiny pieces of plastic with the visual aid of an Audubon photograph showing the contents found in the stomach of one albatross.  People really responded to the request after seeing the picture.

Photo: Kirsten Wahlquist 9-17-16

Photo: Kirsten Wahlquist 9-17-16

We had 220 volunteers, which is about the best number for this site. Many were individual people and families, but several organized groups showed up:

Pepperdine University
Aetna Insurance Company
Moorepark Junior College  (Outdoors Club)
California Lutheran University (Oceans Outreach)
Alpha Phi Sorority of California State University at Northridge

A line of trash-pickers heads towards the beach (L. Johnson 9/20/14)

Seven Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society volunteers ran the whole thing:
Captain Jean; Co-Captain  Ellen; Weighmaster Chris; Masters of Waivers Lillian & Chuck B.; photographer Kirsten; and Trashmaster Chuck A., Scourge of the Brush.

Some statistics:
Total weight of trash = 334.5 lbs.
Total Bags = 105
Volunteers = 220
We still found  many hundreds, if not thousands, of cigarette butts!

For Los Angeles County, Heal the Bay reports for 2016:
9,500 Volunteers
29,600 lbs. of debris
42.5 miles of coastline and river edge covered.
[Jean Garrett]