With the 4th of July falling on a Wednesday this year, it meant that the celebrations carried out over two weekends. Last night, I picked up the remnants of someone's 4th of July firework celebration at Wrightsville Beach. It's worth noting that fireworks are illegal at Wrightsville Beach and I picked up 31!
In my previous post, I wrote about Oceanic's recent switch to "Compostable" straws. Since we went back to access 36 again last night... and picked up 23 straws... I think it's important to bring this up again. Though compostable straws are not my favorite solution
(favorite "realistic solution" would be for them to only give straws upon request)... all in all, I'm happy that they made a change to something more environmentally friendly. But, my friend
Ginger points out some very important facts when it comes to compostable products and we should all take note:
"I really do appreciate companies trying to be more environmentally friendly and using compostable products. However, if those products are on the ground, they are still litter and litter is unsightly, illegal, and sometimes dangerous. Also, products that claim to be "compostable" are not compostable in the ocean. Did you know that items compost best in soil, with the aid of worms, and at the right warm temperature? If these items end up in the ocean, they will not compost because the ocean does not offer the right conditions for items to compost.
What is the lesson to be learned? Reduce all disposable, single use items so that they never end up in the landfill, in a compost bin or in the Ocean."
The best thing that we can all do is to refuse single-use products (no matter what product--plastic, paper, corn, plants, etc-- they're made of).
On Tuesday, July 10... the Town of Carolina Beach is having a meeting to get public input on banning smoking from the Carolina Beach strand. YES! With all that has been happening at Wrightsville Beach, I think it's great that another local beach town is starting this conversation. If you're local, you'll want to be at this meeting!
When: Tuesday, July 10 @6:30pm
Where: 1121 N. Lake Park Blvd, CB
20 minutes on July 8, 2012 at Access 36
Litter by weight: 1 lb 7.8 oz
Cigarette butts: 126
Straws: 23
Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 147 days:
47,689
"I really do appreciate companies trying to be more environmentally friendly and using compostable products. However, if those products are on the ground, they are still litter and litter is unsightly, illegal, and sometimes dangerous. Also, products that claim to be "compostable" are not compostable in the ocean. Did you know that items compost best in soil, with the aid of worms, and at the right warm temperature? If these items end up in the ocean, they will not compost because the ocean does not offer the right conditions for items to compost. 
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