Countywide : Beach Lovers to Help Clean Up the Coast

Today begins the last weekend of summer, and an estimated 4,000 beach lovers will hit the sands across Orange County.

But these folks will likely leave the boogie boards and Speedos behind. Their day at the beach will involve scavenging for cigarette butts, bottle tops, food wrappers and pieces of glass, as they and thousands of other people across the state collect trash as part of Coastal Cleanup Day.

The annual event, which gets under way this morning at 30 local beaches, has in past years helped remove as much as 50,000 pounds of garbage, as well as some abandoned refrigerators, television sets and even an airplane wheel from the county’s beaches, bays and estuaries.

“The goal is to get the beaches clean as the summer ends,” said Jack Liebster, director of public relations for the California Coastal Commission, which is coordinating the event. “We want to educate people about the problem and show that we can lick it if we work together.”

The cleanup comes in the nick of time for some beaches dirtied by a winter of rain runoff that left debris and a summer of crowds that left trash, Liebster said. And while local officials report that most Orange County beaches are regularly cleaned, tight budgets have meant other California beaches are not being adequately maintained.

Last year, the 3,485 Orange County volunteers collected about 48,000 pounds of trash--5,000 pounds more than in 1990. Of that, about 6,000 pounds were recycled.

Statewide, nearly 30,000 people collected more than 300,000 pounds of garbage, including 222,510 cigarette butts, 65,206 pieces of foam plastic, 35,657 pieces of glass, 21,569 metal bottle caps and 25,241 plastic straws, according to Coastal Commission officials.

And that’s nothing compared to some of the objects fished out of Upper Newport Bay. Cleanup organizers report collecting furniture, car parts, a water heater and other home appliances illegally dumped in the area.

“It’s just incredible what you find in the wetlands,” said Newport Beach wildlife naturalist John Scholl. “It’s really a gathering area.”

But improving the beaches’ appearance is only half the story.

Chunks of foam plastic that sea birds mistake for food can cause them to choke and die if eaten. To a sea turtle, a plastic bag and a jellyfish are nearly indistinguishable, but the turtle too can die if it eats the plastic, officials said.

“This is not just a matter of ugly,” Liebster said. “When (debris) gets into the water, it presents a real hazard to the wildlife.”

Cleanup activities are scheduled at Sunset Beach, the Bolsa Chica wetlands, Huntington city and state beaches, Newport Beach, Upper Newport Bay, Crystal Cove State Beach, Laguna Beach, Aliso Beach, San Clemente State Beach and pier, Dana Point Harbor and beach, Salt Creek Strands, Doheny State Beach, Capistrano Beach Park and San Onofre beach and bluffs. Most cleanups will begin at 9 a.m.

Some companies plan to organize events around the cleanup, such as Shell Oil, which will bus 200 employees from as far away as Bakersfield to Huntington Beach today.