Garbage On the Beach Day

Garbage On the Beach Day

About a month ago, me, my sister and her two kids decided to start going down to the beach once a week to pick up garbage.  There are many reasons we do this.  She wants to teach her kids environmental responsibility.  We both wanted to do something, no matter how small, to help the environment.  We think the amount of garbage on the beach is gross and feel that we should do something about it instead of just walking by and pretending that it isn’t our problem.  It is our problem.   Her kids love it and it’s a great excuse for all of us to spend some quality time together.   We all look forward to it every week and it has become an extremely rewarding experience.

It has only been a month, but it’s amazing what I have learned already.
First of all, when you start picking up garbage, you become an expert in trash.  Most of the trash we find on the beach is recyclable—bottles and cans—and so we always have two bags going, one for the bottles and another for the trash.   The other thing we find a lot of are balloon strings.  Honestly, there should be worldwide ban on balloons.  We must find 50 strings a week.  God only knows where all that rubber is ending up.   In terms of how much garbage we are actually collecting, I would say that we average 8-10 bags per week.  Sad, but true.

The most amazing thing though, is the way that other people look at us (usually like we have three heads and just came from the depths of the sea or something).   The exchange always goes something like this:

“Wow, are you picking up garbage?”
“Yes.”
“Are you getting paid for it?”
“No.”
“Are you with some kind of organization?”
“No.”
“So you’re just doing it for yourself?”

What is so telling about exchanges like this is the complete and utter lack of responsibility people feel when it comes to cleaning up the environment.  It’s hardwired into their brain.  Unless you are getting paid or with some kind of non-profit, they simply cannot understand why someone would do such a thing like picking up trash.  Oh sure, everyone agrees that it needs to be done, but no one really thinks that it should start with them.

This leads me to the third thing that I have noticed.  The GIGANTIC DIFFERENCE IT MAKES.  I think that a lot of people don’t do things like this because they don’t think that it will matter.  But I can tell you from experience, it does.  After one month, my sister and I have almost completely cleaned the entire beach.   And you can tell where we left off every week when we go back.

We are only four people going once a week.   Can you imagine the difference it would make if everyone did something like this, only once a week?  It would be amazing, I can promise you that.

So if you are a local, and would like to join us, please get in touch with me.  If you aren’t local and this appeals to you, grab some friends, some garbage bags and some thick fisherman gloves and get cleaning.