Volunteers help pick up mess in Seal Beach
January 29th, 2010, 1:06 pm · · posted by Laylan Connelly, staff writer
For Duncan Fujii, finding the trash wedged between the rocks in Seal Beach was almost like a treasure hunt – just a bit dirtier.
“I found a bottle!” the 11-year-old claimed proudly, holding up his find. “That’s the fun part about it – you never know what you’re going to get.”
Fujii was just one of about 160 volunteers who came out to the sand in Seal Beach on Friday to help volunteers pick up remains left at the beach after strong storms washed piles of mess down the San Gabriel River and onto the shore. Though city workers cleaned up much of the trash, plenty was still left behind, much of it hidden among rocks at the river jetty.
CHECK OUT A SLIDESHOW OF THE MESS FOUND TODAY.
The San Gabriel River is a system that 52 cities – all the way up to Azuza – feed into, and some trash that makes its way to storm drains eventually ends up on the sand. After seeing piles of junk – including a dozen shopping carts, tires, and other strange finds – as far as the eye could see just after the heavy storms, Kim Masoner, founder of Save Our Beach, decided to hold an impromptu cleanup.
Workers found many strange finds: a plastic rocking horse, countless balls, car parts, and even a Christmas tree. They pulled shopping carts and tires from the rocks, and many smaller items like plastic bottles. Piles of their finds were set up on the sand.
Jake Rear, of Fountain Valley, started coming to the regular monthly cleanups held by Save Our Beach last August, and has shown up to every single one since – even getting his parents and girlfriend involved.
“I just do it because I like it, it gives me something to do and I feel good about it,” he said.
Surfer Fred Fernandez planned on hitting the waves after the clean up – but only after doing his part to help. He encourages others to do the same.
“Take the time before you surf to make a difference on the beach,” he said. “The ocean keeps spitting (trash) back at us, it all ends up back at the beach. It all starts with your hand in the trash can.”
The cleanup continues until 2 p.m. today. Meet at the end of 1st street in Seal Beach. Bags and gloves provided.
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Local surfers recognized
That’s awesome. My husband will go fishing off the rocks sometimes and I will pick up trash while he does his thing. It’s amazing what people leave behind. I also like checking out the cats that run around, too cute! This may sound corny, but “Give a Hoot, Don’t Polute”
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Man I hope you guys are wearing THICK gloves.
And thanks for the hard work…we truly do appreciate it.
I’m actually kind of surprised at the amount of trash we’re still finding these days. Now that everybody is more envirionmentally aware, how can they still be so lazy to dump trash on the ground?
I don’t believe a lot of this is dumped ON the beach, but washed down in the San Gabriel River. The education has to start way up river to make folks realize that what they put in the gutter ends up on the beach. The storms, the winds, the rains all help with everything getting washed down, but people just have to be made more aware that trash does flow down river!