July 4th beach clean-up underway

Every year, thousands of people visit beaches on the Monterey Bay to celebrate 4th of July . Once those beachgoers leave, they leave behind tons of trash. Save Our Shores members said the holiday weekend is one of the most notorious for trash littering beaches on the Central Coast. On Tuesday, a beach clean up was held at Cowell’s Beach, and what looked like a lot of garbage really wasn’t, according to Save Our Shores.

“We’ve picked up maybe, I don’t know, 20 pounds of trash at most. You know, four small buckets worth of trash and 15 of us for two hours — that’s pretty awesome,” said Matt Miller, Save Our Shores.

Cowell’s Beach usually sees several hundred pounds of trash on the Independence Day weekend. Save Our Shores said over the weekend they did what they call “pollution prevention outreach.” They handed out more than 200 garbage bags, and spoke with more than 5,000 people. Many of the beaches were gated off with only a few entrances which made it easier for trash outreach to be made.

Last year, volunteers removed nearly 3,000 pounds of trash from 11 hot spot beaches around Monterey Bay. This year, Save Our Shores cleaned up beaches as far south as Carmel, up to Rio Del Mar, all the way to Davenport Beach. With the help of 189 volunteers, this year’s trash totals came out to 2,439 pounds.

“A lot of it does end up in the ocean. We know that the plastic accumulates and has a hazard to the marine animals, so not only is it unsightly on the beach but it has an environmental impact that we don’t really see,” said clean up volunteer David Ghilarducci.

Aside from trash, toys get left behind too. That’s why the city put out a bin full of recycled beach toys, so instead of them getting buried or washed away, folks can come out to Main Beach and pick out some toys for their kids to use.

If you’re not into toys, buried treasure might be more your speed. A handful of people with metal detectors were out scanning the beaches, hoping to find a little more than Independence Day trash. Members of the clean up crew said if trash is found, throw it away.

“Keep in mind that the reason that a lot of people think to come for the holiday to the Monterey Bay (is) because this place is so beautiful and so spectacular and it’s that direct action (of) leaving your trash that will compromise and will prevent this bay from staying healthy,” said Miller.

ORIGINAL STORY: Volunteers with Save Our Shores are cleaning up trash left behind after 4th of July beach celebrations. The group says Independence Day produces more litter than any day of the year, but on Tuesday, they are finding less garbage on Cowell’s Beach than in years past. KION’s Brandon Castillo will us why tonight at 5 and 6 on KION, your Central Coast News Source.