San Diego County CA– As another summer holiday approaches and draws large crowds to local beaches, the San Diego Clean Beach Coalition (SDCBC) prepares to protect the coastline from the additional waste produced at the beach as a result of additional visitors. I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD), FreePB.org, the City of San Diego Parks & Recreation Department, and local businesses – which together make up the SDCBC – are placing waste and recycling bins along San Diego’s busiest beaches and bays over long holiday weekends to tackle the issue of beach and marine litter.
On Monday, July 2nd, the SDCBC will host its 11th annual Fourth of July weekend press event from 11:15 to 11:45 AM at Fanuel Street Park in Pacific Beach. The media will hear first-hand from local law enforcement, elected officials, and coalition members. This press event will inform the public how beachgoers can reduce waste and protect San Diego’s coastline during the holiday weekend. More information about the coalition is available at CleanBeachCoalition.org.
San Diego’s beaches and bays are expected to be packed this summer with both locals and visitors coming to enjoy the beautiful views and perfect weather. Due to the spike in number of visitors at the beach, permanent trash receptacles become inundated with large amounts of litter. To alleviate overflowing receptacles and reduce marine debris, the SDCBC will place 200 temporary trash and recycling bins along San Diego’s most heavily-trafficked beaches: Mission Beach, Mission Bay, Pacific Beach, and Ocean Beach during the summer season holidays.
On top of diminishing San Diego’s natural beauty, marine debris also poses a serious health threat to local wildlife and negatively impacts water quality. Over the SDCBC’s 11-year history, these temporary bins have collected an impressive 3.5 million pounds of trash – keeping litter off the beach and out of the ocean. The bins have already been put to good use this year. These bins are making a noticeable difference for San Diego beaches. After hosting their monthly beach cleanup the day after Memorial Day this year, Dawn Reilly from Beautiful Mission Beach said, “We had to send our volunteers into the neighborhood courts to cleanup instead!”
The SDCBC encourages beachgoers to prepare ahead of time to reduce the amount of trash that will be produced. SDCBC recommends using a hard plastic cooler or insulated bag as an alternative to Styrofoam coolers. Pack a refillable water bottle instead of single-use plastic bottles. Also, eliminate the need for sandwich bags and food wrappers by shopping in bulk and packing reusable food storage containers. SDCBC urges all beachgoers to leave the coast in the best possible condition after visiting.
Major support for this year’s efforts comes from Think Blue San Diego, PB Shore Club, Heller Foundation, Bumble Bee Seafoods, Bahia Resort Hotel, DART, Wonderland, The Local PB, Dumpsters.com, Beautiful Mission Beach, Mission Beach Women’s Club, and OB Surf Lodge. Additional information about the campaign is available at CleanBeachCoalition.org.