Beach cleanup a success in Hermosa Beach
Dara Pastor, Playa del Rey resident, and boyfriend Jason Vance, Hermosa Beach resident, comb the sand of Hermosa Beach in search of litter, Thursday at the 9th annual International Surf Day and beach cleanup.
The South Bay chapter of the Surfrider Foundation partnered up with Globe to celebrate the 9th annual International Surfing Day last Thursday.
The event, which is held annually in over 30 countries worldwide on June 20, is a day dedicated to surfing, cleaning up the beach and raising awareness about the issues facing the ocean said Craig Cadwallader, chair of the South Bay chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.
“We generally try to [hold the event] around the Summer Solstice because it’s the longest day of the year and it gives you the longest day to enjoy the sport,” Cadwallader said. “We always try to do something to make things better wherever we go … just to say ‘Not only do we enjoy it, but we’re responsible at the same time and we’ll do something to leave it better than when we found it.’”
This year the South Bay chapter hosted the event at Hermosa Beach from 7 to 11 a.m. on Thursday. Donuts, coffee and burritos were provided by the event’s sponsor, Globe, an El Segundo-based footwear, apparel and cruiser board company.
Beth Crosse, co-chair of the Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Garden program, said 47 volunteers took part in the beach cleanup this year, and a total of 42 pounds of trash was collected off of Hermosa Beach.
“If it’s a day that’s specifically just a beach cleanup day, then there is more trash [collected] … but this was a pretty good amount,” Crosse said. “We think it was a really successful day.”
Among the items found by the volunteers were a pair of mismatching shoes, a little black sock, a bathing suit, bits of polystyrene foam, plastics, planks of wood, a glow stick and most of all – cigarette butts.
Dara Pastor, a Playa del Rey resident who spent her birthday morning volunteering at the beach cleanup, said she was surprised by the amount of cigarette butts that were discarded on the beach.
Cadwallader said cigarette butts account for over 32 percent of all trash picked up on beaches. He also said that in spite of Hermosa Beach’s public-place smoking ban, people have clearly continued to smoke.
In an effort to reduce cigarette litter, last week the Surfrider Foundation installed 20 cigarette butt receptacles around Hermosa Beach.
“Even though it is non-smoking, people still do it,” Cadwallader said. “So we’re hoping that by putting up these cigarette butt receptacles, we can at least keep the cigarette butts out of storm drains and the ocean.”
Cadwallader said aside from cigarette butts, another big concern right now is the environmental hazard of expanded polystyrene foam, which is more commonly known as Styrofoam and is used to make disposable coffee cups, coolers and packaging material.
“Styrofoam breaks into these little pieces that are impossible to clean up, and birds and fish eat them thinking that it’s food,” Cadwallader said.
Apart from the fact that once its broken Styrofoam is difficult to clean up, Cadwallader said, the material is also difficult to recycle.
“There is this big misnomer about recycling,” Cadwallader said. “Plastic bags never get recycled. In fact, recyclers hate plastic bags because they get caught in the machines, and Styrofoam food service items, if they have had food in them, are contaminated and they are never usable again so they go to a landfill or out here.”
Cadwallader said he encourages people to use reusable bags as opposed to single-use plastic bags. He said he also encourages people to use refillable water bottles and coffee cups instead of the single-use bottles and cups.
“We’re trying to do good things for the environment to just protect what we love and enjoy, and who doesn’t like this,” said Cadwallader. ER