The Results Are In! Santa Barbara County Coastal Cleanup Day 2018
The 34th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day on September 15, 2018 was a huge success. This year over 1,149 volunteers at 27 sites from Rincon Beach Park to Guadalupe Dunes came together to clean up Santa Barbara’s waterways. A total of 4,502 pounds of waste, 3,530 pounds of trash and 971 pounds of recyclables, were collected and prevented from entering our waterways.
In Santa Barbara County, with 7 of 27 sites reporting, the following materials were found;
Plastic Pieces: 3, 816 pieces of plastic
Cigarette Butts: 1,994
Foam: 1,056
Straws: 154
Plastic Bottle Caps: 419
Food Wrappers: 693
Plastic Beverage Bottles: 184
Plastic Bags: 220
Cigar Tips: 95
Dog waste is also a commonly found item with 89 bags found at Bates Beach alone!
The most unusual items found in Santa Barbara County were a Weather Balloon, a BB Gun, a whole Fire Hose, a Flip Phone, and a Giant Teddy Bear. Winners of the statewide Most Unusual Item Contest were a painting of a marsh found in a marsh and a Coca-Cola can from 1963.
Rachel Palmer, Coordinator of Coastal Cleanup Day for Explore Ecology, says, “We’re so grateful to everyone who came out to help. It was our best attended Coastal Cleanup Day yet! Each volunteer made an impact on our beaches. Every piece of plastic picked up is one less piece of plastic in the ocean.”
Coastal Cleanup Day is part of a much larger international event. Statewide, 53,073 Californians picked up 698,931 pounds of trash and an additional 35,674 pounds of recyclable materials, for a total of 734,606 pounds or 367 tons. Volunteers cleaned at over 1,000 sites in 55 of California’s 58 counties, the largest collection of sites in the cleanup’s history. Cleanups took place up and down the coast, from the Oregon to Mexico border and as far inland as Lake Tahoe.
Coastal Cleanup Day is made possible with the help of local businesses, nonprofits, and individuals who volunteer their time to make a difference.
Next year’s Coastal Cleanup Day is scheduled for Saturday, September 21st, 2019. Stay tuned for details on Explore Ecology’s website: ExploreEcology.org/Coastal-Cleanup-Day/.
For volunteers who don’t want to wait until next year to participate in a beach cleanup, Explore Ecology sponsors a Monthly Beach Cleanup, on the 2nd Sunday of every month from 10:00 pm to 12:00 pm at Arroyo Burro Beach.
In Santa Barbara County, Coastal Cleanup Day is brought to the community by Explore Ecology, with the support of the County of Santa Barbara Resource Recovery and Waste Management and the Cities of Santa Barbara and Goleta.
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
Lindsay Johnson
Hello, We cleaned the area of the bike path off Refugio Beach Saturday and was shocked at the amount of dog waste that lined both sides of that long path. That area needs dog waste bag stations, with the hopes dog owners would please use them.
Thanks for letting us know, Chantee!