Whenever I find myself obsessing over plastic and counting bottles in my sleep it is time to do something else, which I did. No beach trash cleanup for 2 days and it was a good cleansing process. Back at it on Friday, getting ready for a sunny – trashy weekend.
Quite a few people have asked why I do the Parking Lot at Belmont Park, which it is the city and Park and Recreation Department. Several reasons:
1.) I am up early and I usually hit the sand when its dark outside. Since I was attacked on the beach several years ago, I avoid the unlighted areas.
2.) The recyclable bottles and cans are not picked up by the homeless, seriously, they do not troll the parking lot. Of the 114 Income- producing recyclable products, 11 Glass Bottles, 33 Beverage Cans and 38 Plastic bottles were found in the Belmont Park parking lot. The trash cans are too easy pickings for pickers…. why walk a parking lot, when you can open a trash can and find 20-40 bottles?
3.) Need to get there before the crowd, who start to arrive around 6 am in the morning. It is hard to pick up around parked cars.
4.) I want to get there before the seagulls. The seagulls show up at dawn and from then on it is a free-for-all. Trash is spread all over.. it is almost like you have to pick up the trash twice. The Park and Rec department cleaning up the parking lot? Frankly is a hit or miss scenario. I have watched them drive over mounds of trash, drive around the parking lot and the lawn and NEVER pick up a thing. They will stop (if they see it) to pick up glass.
5.) Is is part of the overall disposable and wasteful beach life and I would like to track and write about it.
6.) To let Belmont Park know what is happening in their parking lot. Maybe, just maybe they will start some type of sustainability program and add some eco-ness instead of trashness to the environment. I want to call issue to the amount of fecal matter, broken glass, trash and drinking/partying that goes on in that parking lot so it is policed and cleaned up.
The downside to doing someone else’s job (picking up Belmont Park) is they will look good or the City will not budget the appropriate amount to make ensure that a good clean up is done.
That said, the two day count is 760 pieces. As an aside: The beach cleaners cleaned on both days on the sand, so the actual beach clean was pretty good. In addition, some of it depends on tides, how high they are and how much is washed back out to sea.
The two day count is 760 pieces. The majority of the trash is in front of Belmont Park and the Parking lot. Dirty Diapers (Personal Hygiene) are averaging 3 a day, both in the Belmont Park parking lot and on the beach. Broken glass on beach and park averaging another 3 a day.
What appears to be a growing trend is glass bottles both on the beach, the park and the parking lot. In particular beer. This was a giant hole at the tide line in which 8 glass Corona beer bottles were resting. The problem is not just that it is against the law to drink on the beach, but these will be either be buried to show later, be eaten and even broken. The other issue, is where are the bottle caps in a seagull stomach? Where are the other 4 glass bottles? Rarely do you see 1 beer, it is usually a case or a 6-pack.
More Food Waste: This was left out on a picnic table. Leftover food will continue to be a problem. I do not know if they (litterers) thought the homeless will eat this? If so, they have so little respect for them, they did not even cover the food, they left this food open to rats and flies.
French fries and fixings, just left on the sand in front of Belmont Park. The trash can, 2 feet away while full, could have fit this end. Or… maybe they could have walked 5 feet to put it into an almost empty can.
Another major concern is Styrofoam. This looks like is came from one of the -should-be-out-lawed-disposable-boogie -boards. They break apart after one ride and the styrofoam nurdles are spread over 10 feet on the beach. It is almost impossible to pick up all of it.
Found, 2 hotel beach towels, 2 t-shirts, 2 pair of shoes, 1 umbrella (hopefully it is not broken) that was in the dark.