Many people consider Memorial Day weekend to be the unofficial beginning of summer. The amazing weather and beautiful beaches of San Diego draw hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors to our shores, especially during holiday weekends. Unfortunately, many of those people leave a trail of trash behind them, polluting our beaches and the ocean. The Clean Beach Coalition is a group of local nonprofit organizations who work together to remind beach goers to be aware of the amount of trash they make and to prevent more debris from ending up in our ocean.
I Love A Clean San Diego, FreePB.org, Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper, work together with the help of sponsors like Pacific Beach Shore Club and Think Blue, the City of San Diego’s Storm Water & Transportation Department, to place hundreds of temporary trash and recycling bins along San Diego’s most popular beaches during the 4th of July and Labor Day holidays.
As part of the Clean Beach Coalition, we wanted to share a few tips to help keep our beaches as clean as possible this summer. You can also visit the Clean Beach Coalition website, www.cleanbeachcoalition.org, for more information.
Put trash in trash cans
This one seems obvious, right? Sometimes it means a few extra steps down the beach, but making sure your trash makes it IN a trash can is an easy way to make sure it stays OUT of the ocean. The CBC makes this even easier on holiday weekends by putting out extra trash and recycling bins in Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Mission Bay and Pacific Beach.
Pack it in, pack it out
If you brought it with you, take it home! Don’t leave anything behind, no matter how small. Bringing food and drinks in reusable containers will minimize the number of wrappers, bottle caps, etc. for you to keep track of.
Recycle your bottles and cans
Bring an extra bag with you to collect your recyclables in case there isn’t a recycling bin near you. Even better, bring all of your beverages in reusable bottles!
Clean up after your pet
Not only is pet waste not fun to look at (or smell…or step in), it can contaminate our water supply with dangerous bacteria. Be sure to come prepared to clean up after your pets.
Use a funnel to prevent spills when re-fueling your boat or jet ski
It’s one thing to have a spill on land that will probably wash into the water at some point, but spilling oil or gasoline directly in the water? That’s easily avoidable pollution with the right tools.
Even though the CBC’s trash and recycling bins help to control litter on our beaches, inevitably some trash still finds its way onto the sand. We’ll be looking for volunteers to help us at our Morning After Mess cleanup on July 5th at various beach sites up and down the coast.
Make sure you’re following I Love A Clean San Diego on Facebook, Twitter or with our monthly e-newsletter for more information on how you can help us keep San Diego clean all summer long!