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| Cleanup
Day, September 2000 Cleanup Day is a favorite event for
many. It’s a day to get down and dirty. It’s a day to venture into parts of the
Bay you normally aren’t allowed into. And most importantly it’s a day when YOU
get to do something that directly benefits the Bay.
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| Cleanup Day is an international event where thousands of volunteers pick up trash
in coastal areas and record what they find on data cards designed by the Center for Marine
Conservation (CMC). They have been collecting this data since 1986. The CMC analyzes the
data collected on these cards and uses it in reports for testimony on Capital Hill and at
the International Maritime Organization meetings in London. These reports help them figure
out how certain types of trash should be handled by ships at sea and at ports around the
world. Our goal for Cleanup Day at Upper Newport Bay is not only to pick up every piece
of trash we can reach, but also to educate the public on the Bay’s watershed. People
are often surprised to find out that there are eight cities within this watershed
including Newport Beach, Irvine, Tustin, Orange, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Costa Mesa,
and Santa Ana. And that everything within this 154 square mile watershed gets washed right
into the Bay. |
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Even more surprising to many is what we find out here. Using the information collected on
CMC data cards volunteers filled out from previous Cleanup Days we have put together some
interesting lists. Some of the most common items found in the Bay are: foam/plastic
packaging material, 2-liter plastic bottles, tennis balls, cigarette butts, Styrofoam,
fast food cups, and planter pots. But that’s not all. Over the years we’ve
collected some interesting and rather unusual items: tires, shopping carts, clothes,
strollers, tennis rackets, sofas, automobile engines, prison shirts, boogie boards,
syringes, street signs, ladders, a golf club, bowling ball, cable box, 9' tall Christmas
tree, beer bottle with dead rat inside, ballet slipper, dead goldfish in bag, stereo
speaker, half of a bicycle, violin case, blue U.S. Postal mailbox, and the famous
"Jack the Rat" in his coffin.This year’s Cleanup Day was held on
Saturday, September 16. More than 1,300 volunteers worked tirelessly to collect 22 tons of
trash and 4,600 lbs. of recyclables. And the most unusual item found this year? – a
Halloween cow costume.
Grace Yick
County Ranger |
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