Monday, July 4, 2011

Our Daily Ocean: Day 76

For some unknown reason, I've been completely slacking when it comes to posting.  We hit the beach, clean it up... and count the mess... but the post just lags behind.  Hmmm...  Must be something about summer.  :)   Having not been out to Wrightsville Beach as much as I would've liked during the month of June, I'm making the commitment to get out to WB a lot more this month.


My mom and sister have been staying with us... so, on Friday, I asked them which access they wanted to go to.  My mom's response, "I want to go see how bad it is at the pier."  Wish granted.  We, along with my mom and sister, met my friend Tracy at Johnnie Mercer's Pier-- aka Access 16. 
My mom, my sister, and Tracy.
Since it was the start of the Fourth of July weekend, I had prepared myself for a disaster.  BUT... strange thing happened.  There was plenty of parking, the trashcans weren't overflowing and while the beach was definitely littered... it wasn't anywhere close to what we've seen in the past.  Thank goodness!
From the very start of this litter project, I've always been adamant about the fact that I am "never expecting perfect, I just want to get to better."  When I go to the wrack line and can pick up a handful of cigarette butts and plastics in less than a minute... I can honestly state: It's not better. (yet)  Wrightsville Beach is working on the cigarette butt issue.  From what I understand, they're passing out pocket ashtrays.  Not sure how to gauge whether or not it's working because we're still picking up a large amount of cigarette butts.  Hmmm...
Aside from counting cigarette butts, I also count other things including straws.  Friday we picked up a record number of straws:  64 in 20 minutes!  WHOA!  I'm sending my tallies to the WB-- Keep It Clean blog... and since May together we've removed 557 straws from WB!!!  YIKES!!  Please, please, please... when ordering your drink say, "I don't need a straw."  If you like to use straws... how about getting a reusable straw to carry with you??  I have some from Glass Dharma and I absolutely LOVE them!!   Another thing, skip the juice boxes.... take a reusable container and fill it with juice.  No straw or plastic straw wrapper to be littered is a good thing for the beach!! :)

20 minutes on July 1, 2011 at Access 16
Cigarette butts: 703

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 76 days:
23,117

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