Avila Beach -- The 28th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day is
Saturday. Thousands of volunteers
across the state and right here on the Central Coast will scour beaches
and waterways, picking up trash. EcoSLO is
organizing the county cleanup and is looking for more volunteers to help out. Jordan Nero
with EcoSLO says, "As one person you feel like you aren't doing much, but you, one
person can have the biggest impact."
The cleanup
started back in 1985. Last year in
San Luis Obispo County more than 18-hundred volunteers picked up 72-thousand
pounds of litter. Across the
state, 71-thousand volunteers picked up more than 1.3 million pounds
of trash. Cigarette butts are the number one problem
making up about 40-percent of the trash collected in California, food wrappers
make up more than 10-percent, lids- more than 8-percent, and bags another
8-percent.
Kylee Singh with EcoSLO says, "One thing we are going to ask
volunteers is not to stay just in the sand actually move up into the community
and clean up the board walks cleanup your piers clean back into the gutters
because everything washes into the ocean." Storm drains eventually lead to
the ocean and that's why EcoSLO is working to raise awareness about litter and
pollution, encouraging everyone to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
EcoSLO is asking
you to B-Y-O-B, bring your own bucket or reusable bag. The goal is not to create
any waste during the cleanup. Volunteers will also get special instructions on
what to do if they find some of the tsunami debris that is beginning to wash-up
on California beaches from the Fukishima earthquake.
