By Lauren Shapiro
“You drop a bottle in the water in Merrick, and it washes up at Jones Beach” said Tim Byrne, Co-Director of Operations at Jones Beach as we toured fields 1 through 6 at the 22nd Annual International Coastal Cleanup. Volunteers from cub scouts to a group of AT&T workers (acting as individuals), working under the supervision of Beach captains, were picking up those bottles and more.
According to the American Littoral Society (www.alsnyc.org) newsletter “In the 2007 cleanup, the Ocean Conservancy … 378,000 volunteers in 45 states and 76 countries … bagged approximately 6 million pounds of trash.”
The most important thing about the cleanup, according to both Mr. Byrne and Barbara Cohen – New York State Beach Cleanup Coordinator, Northeast chapter, American Littoral Society – is that the cleanup is documented. Volunteers are given trash bags and “international Coastal Cleanup data cards” to record anything from cups to refrigerators. According to Mr. Byrne, “I tell kids to work in groups of 3 – one picks up the garbage, one holds the bag, and the 3rd fills out the card. It’s a great way to teach them about being socially responsible.” Ms. Cohen agreed education was high on the agenda. “We expect mostly ‘people trash’ and this is the awareness and educational component- if we are producing the most debris on the beach we have a way of rectifying this. We’ve been doing this for 23 years and we are able to see trends in the kinds of debris we find on the shores. Sometimes we are able to identify the source and if it comes from a corporation or an agency, we’re able to get in touch with them. In the past we have confronted corporations and rectified the situation.” According to Mr. Byrne, Jones Beach is not a dumping site, and the most commonly found trash is water bottles. (According to ALS, non-deposit bottles outnumber deposit bottles 3 to 1.) These are not only bottles left on the sand, said Mr. Bryne. “People on boats drop a bottle in the water and “the winter storm tides push up and flood the bay and then the winds blow south, pushing the garbage to the north side of the island – fields 10 and Zach’s bay. This is a storm basin, water runs off and leads out to the bay – don’t throw your trash here.”
Steve Rosenthal, Beach Captain for Field 10 agrees “Trash from boats in the channel, or boats further north washes up on the sand in Field 10… on the oceanfront fields most trash is deposited on the sand, and the park picks up regularly every day so it doesn’t accumulate the way it does on field 10.”
Mr. Byrne said Jones Beach “surfrakers” work excellently on level sand, but not on the slopes off the berm. You can see surfrakers at www.hbarber.com/Cleaners/SurfRake/HowItWorks.aspx
If you’re interested in volunteering for the coming weekend, you may sign up by calling Jones Beach at 516 785-1600; or Rosanne Mamo 516-221-8112 for Zach’s Bay.
Other fall Jones Beach cleanups are also scheduled. You can contact Janette Walby 201-723-8977 for September 19th and 2th; ; Lou Siegel 516-378-2451 for September 27and October 4th and Michele Single 516-797-0969for October 11th and 18th.