On October 11,
2012, the Boston skies were a brilliant blue, the temperatures hovered in the mid-60s, and
the local weather forecast called for nothing but sun and blue skies all day
long. For those wanting to extend summer, all signs pointed to a great beach day. Or, as 215 students from the Josiah Quincy
Upper School in Chinatown were about to find out, a great day for a beach cleanup - the 25th COASTSWEEP
cleanup, to be exact. This annual state-wide cleanup organized by the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and UMass-Boston’s Urban Harbors Institute takes place at beaches and waterways all over the state during September
and October.
Along with teachers and parent volunteers, the group combed
the beach looking for things that did not belong on the shores. Call it marine
debris or plain old trash, the kids collected and catalogued more than 100
pounds of man-made materials, including 406 beverage cans and bottles, 229 food
wrappers/containers, random pieces of plastic and metal toys, some shotgun
casings, and more than 350 smoking-related items (including cigar tips and
cigarette butts, lighters, and packaging). In the “other” category, volunteers
found an aluminum cane, a chop stick, broken toys, and two car tires.
Carson Beach is one of 186 Massachusetts cleanup spots.
And, in addition to helping the beach look a whole lot prettier, the data
collected during COASTSWEEP are used as part of a global effort—114 countries around the world participate—to learn
more about the sources of marine debris to keep the shores of our beaches,
oceans, lakes, streams, and rivers clean. Since 1987, the Ocean Conservancy has recorded every cigarette butt and grand piano that has been removed
during the International Cleanup so that ocean managers and policy
makers can make informed decisions. (For example, due to the large amount of
plastic bags found during cleanups, Italy and San Francisco banned single-use
plastic bags, and Ireland added a shopping bag tax that reduced bag use by 90 %.)
Lastly, as the old adage
goes, when you go to the beach, take only pictures and leave only footprints.
(In other words, please take your trash with you when you go and encourage
others to do the same!)
There is still time to get involved in a local COASTSWEEP cleanup—for a list of cleanups, check out COASTSWEEP2012 Cleanups.
And for more facts about COASTSWEEP, check out CZM’s “25 Years of Sweeping the Shores of Marine Debris.”
