Almost as soon as the glare of July 4 fireworks on the central Oregon coast began to fade, a small army of volunteers went to work cleaning up as much of the resulting debris as they could find.
The results, according to the Surfrider Foundation, which organized the effort, were impressive.
During 13 beach cleanups held July 5 and July 7, a group of 275 volunteers collected a total of 912 pounds of trash from central coast beaches.
In addition, Surfrider Newport collected another 640 pounds of trash left in 55-gallon waste barrels at beach accesses placed from Yachats to Lincoln City between July 1-8 as part of the multi-organizational Freedom from Marine Debris Project.
Notably, the foundation said, the barrel located at the Yachats Ocean Road beach access collected the most trash, underscoring the importance of ongoing efforts in this area to balance the influx of holiday visitors.
All this, despite existing regulations and restrictions on fireworks on state beaches and other areas.
“In 30 minutes, two volunteers collected 421 pieces of firework debris from just one parking areas on the Yaquina Bay South Jetty,” said Kaia Hazard, Oregon regional manager for the Surfrider Foundation. “This number is startling, and is the reason we are out on the beach in the first thing on July 5th with our buckets and grabbers. However, we can’t cleanup our way out of this mess, so we will continue to educate folks on the harmful effects of fireworks, and encourage ocean-friendly alternatives.”
- Dana Tims/YachatsNews