Volunteers scoured the beaches of Hermosa in search of litter and trash on Saturday, September 20, in recognition of California Coastal Cleanup Day presented by the California Coastal Commission. The annual event began in 1979 in Humboldt County and became statewide by 1984. Guinness Book of World Records recognized the 1993 event as the “largest garbage collection” ever organized, with 50,405 volunteers, according to the Coastal Commission website. Amongst Saturday’s volunteers were players from Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team and members of Hermosa Hermanos, a volunteer group for young men and mothers.
Jeremy Jackson, representing Best Contracting Services in Gardena, said his best trash find of the day was a half-smoked cigar. Trash bags were filled relatively low with litter, a sign of cleaner sands for Hermosa Beach.
Christy Donner, a San Pedro resident, started at the north end of Redondo Beach making her way up to 8th street in Hermosa. “I looked all around the rocks and didn’t see much at all. I only got half a bucket [of trash,]” she said, seeming pleasantly surprised. “I thought people must have swept the beach already.”
Preliminary results counted close to 20,000 volunteers across California picking up 178,296 pounds of trash and recyclables. ER
