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Community Corner

Beach Sweeps Set for This Weekend

The 26th annual fall beach cleanup is expected to include more than 3,000 volunteers at nearly 70 sites

There have been mannequin legs and a refrigerator, a carpet vacuum and a bottle of Holy Water, toilet seats, a $20 bill and a purple wig.

Those are just a handful of the more unusual items that have been found during the annual Clean Ocean Action Beach Sweeps, where volunteers hit the beaches and the waterways to remove thousands of pieces of debris from the sand, the riverfronts and even underwater at sites throughout New Jersey. Last year, volunteers collected more than 475,000 separate pieces of debris, according to Clean Ocean Action’s annual beach sweeps report.

On Saturday, more than 3,000 volunteers are expected to join in the 26th annual fall event at nearly 70 locations throughout the state. Tavia Danch, education coordinator for Clean Ocean Action, said more than 2,000 people are among the groups of 10 or more that have registered already for the sweeps, but many more individuals join the efforts as well.

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“It depends on the weather,” Danch said, but every person who helps matters.

Volunteers receive data cards and are asked to record each piece of debris they collect, from plastic bottle caps to pieces of lumber to those crazy items – which have even included a kitchen sink. Because this sweep occurs after the municipalities stop raking the sand for the tourist season, the debris that’s collected primarily consists of items washed up as a result of the various tropical storms.

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“It’s more a reflection of marine debris,” Danch said, and our consumer habits, noting that much of the debris reflects single-use disposables, such as plastic water bottles and caps. Danch noted it may be especially interesting this year to see what was left in the wake of Hurricane Irene.

The first sweeps were held at Sandy Hook in 1985 with 75 volunteers. That effort has since expanded statewide, with volunteers picking up debris at as many as 70 sites from Aberdeen in Monmouth County to the tip of Cape May, and inland as well.

Locally, sweeps, which run from 9 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., are scheduled for the following locations:

OCEAN COUNTY

Barnegat: East Bay Avenue beach

Bay Head: at Route 35 and Mount St

Beachwood: Public Beach, Compass Avenue

Brick: Brick Beach III on Route 35 North, next to Ocean Club and across from Bayside Park

Lakewood: Lake Carasaljo, meet across from St. Mary's Church on Route 9

Lavallette:

Mantoloking: Lyman Avenue Beach

Normandy Beach (pending): Meet at Labrador Lounge at Peterson Street and Route 35 North

Ocean Gate: Wildwood Avenue pier

Ortley Beach:

Point Pleasant: Maxson Avenue and River Avenue beaches

Point Pleasant Beach: Jenkinson's Aquarium on the Boardwalk; Maryland Avenue.

Seaside Heights (2 sites): on the Boardwalk; Bayside boat launch (pending) along Route 35 South

Seaside Park (4 sites): on the boardwalk; Second Avenue; Midway Beach at 6th Lane; Island Beach State Park (pending) Bathing Pavilion 1

MONMOUTH COUNTY

Allenhurst: Euclid Avenue

Asbury Park: (2 Sites) Convention Hall at the Boardwalk; North Beach, meet at the dirt lot near Asbury Towers.

Avon: Pavilion at Norwood and Ocean avenues.

Belmar: (2 Sites) Belmar Fishing Club, First Avenue Beach; 16th Avenue Beach

Bradley Beach: Gazebo at 5th and Ocean avenues.

Brielle: Fisk Avenue and the public access point at the drawbridge

Deal: Philips Avenue beach

Long Branch: Pier Village, meet at public access at Melrose Terrace and Ocean Avenue

Manasquan: Main Street beach

Ocean Grove: Main Street beach, meet at flagpole

Sea Girt: Boardwalk at Beacon Boulevard

Spring Lake: South End Pavilion at Atlantic and Ocean avenues

 

For more information on the sweeps or to register a group of 10 or more people, visit www.cleanoceanaction.org and click on the Beach Sweeps tab.

Who knows what you might find?

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