A big thank you to all who came out to clean Rodeo Beach on Sept. 25. Because of you, there is now 172 lb less of trash on the beach and that means 172 lb less that can get into the ocean or harm marine mammals! In all, 165 volunteers descended on Rodeo Beach to participate with The Marine Mammal Center to clean Rodeo Beach, the parking lot and historic building area.
Our clean up yielded 98 lbs. of trash (12 bags) , 16 lbs of rusty metal and 50 lbs of wood with nails and a half a table from a boat for a total of 164lbs, plus 8 lbs. (1 bag) of recycling. After tallying all the count sheets returned by the volunteers the most found items were: 1,649 food wrappers, 1,026 cigarette filters, 804 plastic pieces, 723 plastic bags, 497 Styrofoam/foam pieces and 136 straws. This really shows how the small to tiny pieces of trash are very prevalent and they do add up!
Other items of note: evidence of a dog friendly beach were found, 10 tennis balls and 6 bags with dog poop! Interesting…35 can pull tabs. 35 shotgun shells or wadding. Personal care items like 14 Band-Aids, a hair brush, a razor, floss holder and other similar things that could have filled a travel kit!
Volunteers noted other odd items including: an ear plug, Halloween spider ring, metal snap tie for foundations, half of the boat table, many green plastic disks (some with nails from a roofing project in the Headlands)and a door knob. The most poignant, was dried scat (yes poo) from a land mammal that was encasing a rubbery white lure used for fishing. This could have been that animals last supper if the lure had stayed stuck in the animals gastrointestinal tract. So cleanups help both land and ocean life!
The release of four California sea lions treated at The Marine Mammal Center was a great addition to our day. The sight of the sea lions returning to an ocean via a beach that was cleaner from our efforts was a good feeling.
Thank you to the volunteers who came from all over the Bay Area to take part at Rodeo Beach including a group from Wells Fargo in SF, Cub Scout Pack 33 from Mill Valley, two members from Boy Scout Troop 38 from San Rafael, employees from Genworth Financial, Drake High students with teacher Sue Fox, plus students from Kent Middle School, and Pleasant Valley College plus more. Special thank you to volunteers Lauren and Alexandra who counted, bagged and carted all the garbage and to The Marine Mammal Center’s staff and volunteers who facilitated the release.
Learn how you can reduce your ocean footprint on our Stop Trashing Our Oceans page.
