A friend of mine told me I should be putting more pictures up of the beach trash I pick up on a daily basis. Here is one day at Belmont Park in San Diego. This includes not just the beach, I try to pick 100 pieces of plastic in the Belmont Park parking lot (easy 10 minutes) 100 pieces of plastic in the green picnic area and then proceed to the beach. This is a combination of sweatshirts, towels, volleyball, glass bottles, cans, plastic bottles, a few beach toys.
Bottom line: 99% of the bags are filled with plastic and the majority of that plastic is related to food. Cups, plates, straws, food packaging, plastic bottles, styrofoam, Fast Food plastic bags, candy wrappers, chips wrappers. If somebody, not just me as there are other beach cleaners didn’t pick it up, most of it will land up in animal stomachs and the ocean.
Curbs are great places to put your drink down and leave it along with the straws and lids and any other floaters, which are the small pieces of plastics that waft in the wind.
Across the street from Belmont Park is another ‘beach area’ that also has fire pits, childrens play area, volleyball court and picnic areas. There are a few trees. Each ‘small’ tree area has beach trash left behind.
This was a quick 10 minute run through about 1000 steps in parking lot.
This doesn’t count the picked up reusable bags that I have already reused and filled and placed in trash cans. The recyclables given away to the ‘pickers. It is very sad the lack of respect to the ocean and the people who live, enjoy and make a living from the ocean economy.