SAN DIEGO — On Friday, the San Diego chapter of the Surfrider Foundation hosted its annual Morning After Mess beach cleanups with I Love a Clean San Diego, the San Diego River Park Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper.
Over 774 volunteers recovered nearly 3,916 pounds of trash and recycling were recovered, which otherwise would have been washed into the sea, adding to the already critical pollution problem devastating the world’s oceans.
The cleanup sites included: the Ocean Beach Pier, Ocean Beach Dog Park, Belmont Park at Mission Beach, Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, and the Oceanside Pier.
These locations were chosen because of the high concentration of beachgoers and their notorious reputations for post-4th of July trash.
San Diego Chapter Manager, Mitch Silverstein, says, “The beach is a perfect place to celebrate July 4, but our “Morning After” cleanups show the disastrous consequences our reliance on single-use plastic wreaks upon the environment. Most of what our volunteers pick up could be avoided if we chose reusable items instead of disposable ones.”
At Surfrider's 2018 beach cleanup events, roughly 75% of all collected trash was at least partially made of plastic.
The San Diego Surfrider Foundation is scheduled to hold another beach cleanup Saturday at the Oceanside Pier. The cleanup is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.