week 5 John and Ginger zone 4

Happy Memorial Day!!!


When John and I were walking up Access #32, this is what we spotted before we could even get to the beach.

Unfortunately as we walked our zone, it did not get much better.  We collected  the equivalent of 8 bags of trash.

There was a pig sty at the trash cans at access #35.  I'm not sure what went on there, but someone left several chairs, a suitcase filled with towels, blankets and garbage, garbage all over the ground, and they even sat the trash can on top of a garbage bag filled with garbage!  Apparently these individuals do not know how to respect the beach.  I felt sorry for the Public Works staff that would be coming by later to gather all of this stuff.

We also encountered several large holes.....

beside the hole

In the hole--up to my knees

As if the pig sty at access #35 wasn't enough, we found the remains of some irresponsible dog owners:

I found 8 sippy straw sleeves in one location along with lots of food wrappers, caprisun packs, kids clothing and a dirty diaper.  At another site, I found 9 sippy straw sleeves and some caprisun packs.  I really felt bad for the example that was set for these children.


Many of our items, we didn't even bag, we just carried to the trash cans.  
1 blanket
1 towel
2 clothing
2 prs flip-flops
31 butts
2 huge cigars
26 toys
2 swim goggles
3 sunglasses (none of them worth wearing :(
plastic head band
plastic hair bow
1 rubber mallet????-(Maybe to hammer in the tent or umbrella??)
5 ziplock bags
2 plastic bags
25 straws
23 bottle caps
1 firework remnant
1 diaper
1 boogie board
16 cans (13 beer, 3 soda)
16 plastic bottles
1 glass bottle
6 plastic cups
4 cup lids
2 plastic spoons


Our finds is Sonny who "greets the sun" every Monday morning at Crystal Pier.  This morning we were able to hear him play the flute.  We were glad to learn that he participates in SUP (stand up paddle boarding) clean ups once a month to help clean our waterways.

We also witnessed a beautiful sunrise and we greeted the sun too :)

And on our way back we saw another one of my favorite people:  Nancy Faye Craig.  She was riding her bike, dressed for the holiday, and we spotted her stopping to pick up trash!!!!  I was so thrilled I had to take her picture!

We also witnessed WB town employees proudly displaying several American Flags---had to take their pics too!  :)

We saw flags from the waterway as well while boating.  We also scoop trash out of the water way while boating and the last few times we have collected 5 plastic bags, 2 plastic bottles, and 1 aluminum can ( I will add these to our numbers)

Keep It Clean!!!!!

week5 Kim Meyer and Celia Jones zone 1

Celia is new to monitoring for WBSTP---Great Big Flipper Claps to Celia---Welcome!!!

We collected two bags of trash on Sunday.  Of what was collected, there were the usual assortment of beer cans and plastic toys, bottles, and wrappers from juice boxes.  Also there were several balloons tied with ribbons. 

Abrons/Butler/Doss Trio--Weeks 3, 4, & 5 zone 0

Dr. Doss is one of my favorite people.  He is always positive and always smiling and very crafty.  He walks zone 0 with Chris Abrons and Laraine Butler on Monday mornings.  Here are their finds for the past 3 Mondays:


Zone O:
first Monday 1 bag of trash.
Second Monday 2 bags of trash. 
Third Monday, today, 1 bag of trash. 


For a holiday I thought we had a fairly clean beach. 


Most of the trash was plastic cups and a few cans. 


Abrons/Butler/ Doss

week 5 Morgan and Kathleen--Holes and Buckets

Sea Turtle Peeps are always concerned about big holes left on the beach as well as overnight structures such as tents and umbrellas.  There is a good reason for this---sea turtles can become trapped or injured in holes and structures.  Besides, both are against WB town ordinances.

Often times, volunteers will manually fill in holes and this can be a workout, but Morgan and Kathleen have found an excellent solution:


Hi Ginger,

Morgan and I experimented with the 5 gallon bucket today and found a very useful purpose for them other than collecting trash...filling in holes!!!!  It was so much easier to scoop the sand up with the buckets than trying to fill the hole "manually".  There were several large holes in front of the Shell Island Resort, those buckets saved us a bunch of time!  We will not be going bucketless again!

We found the equivalent of one grocery size trash bag the contents of which were:

2 water bottles
8 plastic cocktail cups
1 latex balloon (score!)
1 plastic sand shovel
1 wooden handle shovel, broken
1 pair of sunglasses
25 cigarette butts
3 straws
10 or so napkins
4 various pieces of plastic


See you soon,

Danielle Richardet--collecting during the evening hours last weekend (5/21 & 5/22)

We went to WB on Saturday (Access 18) and Sunday (Access 15).  We parked at Johnnie Mercer's Pier (Access 16) and cleaned from the pier north.  For the two days, add an additional 1,583 cigarette butts and 41 straws.  I also tallied a bunch of other things from our Sunday clean up: 14 aluminum cans, 3 plastic bags, 13 plastic bottles, 24 caps. 

week4 Renee Tevlow zone 2

Hi Ginger,
   I collected one tote bag of trash this week.  It included the regulars:  cigarettes, bottles, straws, bits of styrofoam, kids toys, towels, clothing,  flip flops, plastic bags. 
  I've attached a few pictures....you look up and there's so much beauty.  You look down and there's bits of carelessness scattered in the sand.  Such a contrast.
   The birds in the last picture are Black Skimmers.   They were flying in pairs back and forth along the receding tide.  They were skimming their beaks along the waters surface gathering their fishy breakfast. 
   Till next week.....

week 4 Kathleen Holly--zone 5 (4 days)

Hi Ginger,  I used 4 one gallon degradable bags this week  (walked 4 days).. one surf board strap, 4 kiddie pails, 5 kiddie shovels or scoopers, few butts (shocked), one plastic knife in sleeve, 3 plastic bags, 18 beer or soda cans, a few straws, 1 disposable cig lighter, remains of 2 balloons.  no one practicing safe sex or camping out this week.


Reusing the plastic bags more than 2x yields a really stinging smell in the trunk of my car.  hence using the Teeter's new eco bags at least 2x.. but disposing of them once they get a bit gamey.



...It is somewhat disappointing people will stop and say thanks to me for picking up but not bothering themselves.. Do you think that we are the garbage people and they no longer need to be picking up???   No gnarly finds, just more pieces of plastic kiddie things and fast food cups, papers and straws.  A lot of straws, pepper and salt, napkins etc blow off the Oceanic pier.  I pick those up most every time. I am sure the Oceanic sends people down but the wind blows these goodies around.
Kathleen

week 4 Thom & Pam zone 2

Hi Ginger,
    Thom and I picked up 2 walmart bags of trash in zone 2 this morning.  Bag 1 filled fairly quickly with beer bottles and a large pair of men’s flip flops (not located in the same area).  The unusual thing we saw were numerous dead fish washed ashore. 
Pam

week 4 John and Terri Littlejohn zone 2

Ginger,

     Terri and I found the following in Zone 1 on Tuesday, 24 May:

3 - beach towels
3 pr. - shoes - taken off the beach and placed on the boardwalk at Access #4
beach toys
plastic strap for bucket
2- styrofoam cups
1 - china cup
container of surfer's wax

All of the above filled two Harris Teeter plastic trash bags.

Susan Miller from JM Pier---holes and early drinking--not a good mix :)

Hi Ginger,

This morning, Friday, in zone 3 was quite a different scene from last week. While last week was a relatively quick and not-dirty trip, this week there was a lot more litter to pick up. I was anticipating this, since it has been very hot over the past week and we're coming up on the holiday weekend. One thing that surprised me, however, was the number of large holes and sand castles. There were many of them today. One hole was large enough that I considered asking two nearby guys to help me fill it in. As I came closer to them, however, I saw that they were drinking cans of Budweiser at 6:15 am, so I opted to go without their assistance.

Today I collected one large reusable bag of trash, which equals 3-4 plastic grocery bags. This included:
1 shoe
2 pairs of women's flip flops
1 pair of men's flip flops
1 pair of children's flip flops
8 water/iced tea/ Gatorade bottles
7 empty beer cans
1 empty soda can
5 plastic fast food cup lids
1 empty wine bottle
1 Styrofoam cup
3 plastic cups
12 plastic water bottle caps
1 sunglasses lens
2 pacifiers
2 headbands
several bits of plastic trash, granola bar wrappers, candy wrappers, etc
6 sand toys
1 plastic spoon
1 plastic knife
1 jagged piece of brown glass
1 comb
1 sock
1 pair of inside-out swim trunks
1 tee shirt
2 empty cigarette packs
1 lighter
5 plastic baggies
20 plastic straws
1 long piece of kite string
72 cigarette butts
1 white hotel towel

I also removed 2 beach chairs that were rather mangled.

The highlight of today's walk was a seagull that followed very close next to me for quite some distance. Perhaps there was something inside my trash bag that smelled enticing?

I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

week 4 Nylon Mesh bags for Toys

Hi Ginger,

I met new volunteers in Zone 3 on Wednesday to go over our monitoring procedures and show them the start/stopping point for this zone.  As we walked, we collected about 1 grocery store sized bag of trash.  There was much more there that we could have picked up, but we only collected trash from the tide line.  

The most offending item we found was one of those nylon mesh bags in which manufactures love to pack beach toys.  This is one of my pet peeves.  Why in the world would toy companies pack beach toys in bags that are so very detrimental to marine life and shorebirds?  I have picked up a countless number of these bags off the beach over the years!  

Have a great day,
Nancy Fahey

week 4 Michelle Leonard zone 4

It was warm and humid, but beautiful walk this morning the 25th of May at Zone 4.  There is still an amazing amount of sea grass at the tide line.  Here are my beach finds for today.


-  2 plastic bottles
-  1 plastic lid
-  1 plastic food container
-  1 plastic cup
-  1 plastic toy shovel
-  1 pen
-  1 beach chair
-  1 empty Benson & Hedges cigarette pack
-  1 National Enquirer paper
-  1 pair of shorts
-  1 pair of socks
-  1 handkerchief
-  1 t-shirt
-  1 movie ticket stub from Knoxville, TN  (they saw "Something Borrowed")
-  14 cigartette butts


I am happy to say that there were only a few holes to fill in and the trash cans had been emptied.  Thank you Wrightsville Beach!!!

week 4 Jill & Rick zone 4

Hi Ginger,

It was a beautiful morning on the beach -- but sadly, no momma's spotted yet.  The trash for zone 4 was light again today, just a bag of chips and a drink cup.  Hope the tourists will Keep It Clean when they come!

Take care,

Jill

Balloons in Surf and Birds in Trash

Today I had to walk by myself b/c John was out of town.   I collected 4 bags of trash and that doesn't include the trash that I picked up right beside the trash can.  I didn't count this trash b/c I just threw it right back and b/c I saw the culprits of the non-human type---birds.  We have talked about this every year and we can't blame the birds--they are just doing what is natural---what we need are trash cans with lids.  Lids would help keep the birds out of the trash and also keep the wind from blowing the trash out of the cans.  Hopefully, we will see this one day on WB!


The other alarming thing I saw was a white balloon with a blue string washing in on the surf.  In this picture, you can see the foam of the water still around the string where the balloon had just washed in.  I couldn't help but think how this white balloon really would have looked like a jelly fish out in the water.

I also found 2 more balloons--one orange and one yellow.  According to one study, sea turtles actually seem attracted to a brightly colored balloon.

My trash total today was 4 bags which included:
12 toys
3 balloons
6 plastic bottles
1 glass bottle
23 cig butts & 1 cigar tip
6 cans
21 straws
7 bottle caps
1 coat hanger
1 towel (I left at the life guard stand)
1 pair of "justice" shorts
2 shirts
2 types of fishing gear
1 toy netting
2 ziplock bags
2 plastic bags
3 brightly colored plastic ice cubes shaped like sea life
1 pen
1 disposable toothpick brush
lots of paper, sugar packets, receipts, and straws that blow from the Oceanic  :(

week 4 Dick & Linda (mon. 5/23) zone 1

We picked up between us:
            1 bag of trash
            1 towel
            3 bogie boards

Trash barrels at all accesses were full so that is good news.

NO TRACKS!

Dick and Linda Chapman 

week4 Morgan & Kathleen Britton--zone 0 (sun. 5/22)

Hi Ginger,

Not a lot of action this morning in Zone 0.  Morgan and I picked up about 1/2 grocery size bag the contents of which included:  3 party size drink cups, 2 snack food wrappers, a few straws, a few water bottles and just a few cigarette butts. 

Have a good week!

week 4 camping under Oceanic --(sun. 5/22) zone 5

Kym always finds a treasure, but I'm not sure a person sleeping in a hammock by a camp fire is it!!!!  Of course, there is always lots of things that blow off Crystal Pier from the Oceanic Restaurant, so maybe camping there is not such a bad idea!  It sure is a nice view  :)


Zone 5 this morning: 1 grocery bag of recycling, 1 bag trash, 1 bag toys & flip flops. Also, threw away a flipper & booty, clothing/shoe & returned a watch to a camper by resting it on his backpack which was strung up w/ his hammock under the oceanic pier in good faith that he/they would clean up their campfire trash when they awoke(?)
Thanks,
Kym Davidson

Nancy Faye Craig--A true inspirtation

Nancy Faye Craig is a member of WBSTP and almost any other volunteer group on and around WB.  She is truly an inspiration.  You can see her "being green" almost every day as she commutes around town on her bike.  In previous years, I have said that I aspire to be like Nancy, and I still do.

Nancy calls her reports into me every week.  Below are her findings for weeks 3 and 4.

Nancy Faye Craig--week 3; zone 4
 1/2 bag of trash.  1 glass bottle and 1 aluminum can


Nancy Faye Craig--week 4
 Zone 4:
1.5 bags of trash.  1 glass bottles, 4 cans, and 1 pair of men's gray jockey shorts left at Crystal Pier.  "I guess they had a big time last night  :)"


Also concerned about the amount of trash that gets blown off of Crystal Pier from Oceanic Restaurant including sweet and low packets, oyster cracker packets, straws, and bill receipts.  These items have been picked up all the way down to the Yacht Club.


 Zone 5:
2 bags of trash filled with bottles and cans picked up mostly between the jetty and the Coast Guard Station.

More from Week 3 (5/15 - 5/21)

Kathleen Holly--zone 3

I took my "bag" and gloves expecting some serious goodies.. nothing but butts.. maybe because there was a storm forecast.  I expect "things" are going to pick up.. the last few days have only yielded 1 1gal bag of pieces of plastic, string from a balloon, a toy and pieces of a flip flop.. that is it.. shocked and..  awed.. maybe we are getting a message across.. 

Jill and Rick Zone 0 & 4---They find the Breakfast of Champions!

Hi Ginger,

 

I'm so sorry I'm just sending in the trash report for the week of 5/16.  I'm not quite in the habit yet.

 

Here's the report...which is a really good one as far as trash goes:

 

Tuesday, May 17, zone 4: 1 mylar balloon

Friday, May 20th, zone 0: 1 full Bud Light and a pack of cigarettes (what more could we want at 6am??)

 

Talk to you soon,

Best,

 

Jill

Julie Nichols--zone 5

Ginger,

 

I walked for Page in Zone 5 yesterday morning and things were surprisingly clean.  I picked up about ½ bag of trash mostly around the beach access to the right of Oceanic.  Much of it was paper wrappers from straws…probably blown from the outdoor tables on the pier.  There were a few other straws (the kind from drinkboxes) and their wrappers, wipes, and a diaper. (Diaper was found in the edge of bushes in the Oceanic parking lot.)

 

Unfortunately this morning – just out for an early walk, with no bags or gloves – there was the remainder of a party to the right of Oceanic, including glass beer and wine bottles, leftover bags of chips, partial case of water, etc.   All of this within 30 feet or so of the trash cans, one of which was NOT full.   I’m sorry I didn’t have time to go back and clean it up.  Does Oceanic police the area before the restaurant opens?   Most of the trash cans in the area were full so most people are trying to keep the beach clean.

 

Bring on the turtles!  It’s time for a bountiful season.

 

Julie Nichols

Mellissa--zone 4

Zone 4 Friday: 2 Lawn chairs and 1 grocery size bag of trash. 

Thanks!

Letter to KIC volunteers for Week 3

Hi all you Keepers and KIC ers!

You have been very busy this week and have picked up a total of 34 bags of trash!!!  Whew hooo!!!!  Way to Go!!!  That makes our Grand Total 56 bags of trash!

On the sidebar you will find "Other WB Numbers".  Here you will be able to see some of the items that many of you are counting.  Now, of course, you don't have to count your trash, picking it up is enough!   But if you are like me and you are curious and just want to know..... let me know your numbers and I will post them.

Balloons

So, I know, we, as a group have only been monitoring the beach for 1 week, but Nancy monitored two weeks prior, so that means we are on week 3.  The big numbers thus far in 3 weeks are BALLOONS!  We have collected 81---way too many!!!!

A few weeks ago, we received a new patient at the Sea Turtle Hospital.  His/Her name is Riptide.  Riptide is a lot stronger now, but when he came in, he was very very sick, extremely thin, covered in barnacles, and lethargic.  I had the honor of holding him in my lap on top of a towel while Karen cleaned his tank.  When I picked him up from the towel to place him in his freshly cleaned tank, he had left me a surprise on the towel.  What do you think it was???  If you guessed a balloon, you are absolutely right!!!!  I couldn't believe my eyes (well, I really could), but right there on the white towel in the midst of Riptide's poop was a piece of a red latex balloon!!!  I was very happy that Riptide had been able to rid himself of this toxicity in his body, but upset at the same time that our (humans') litter has led to this type of tragedy.   I fished the balloon out and washed it, put it in a container, labeled it, and saved it at the hospital with the other balloons that other turtles have excreted.  Please, please tell your friends and families how dangerous these items can be to wildlife.

Other Totals

Since May 1, we have also picked up a lot of cig butts and straws.  Many of you do not have time to count your items and that is no problem whatsoever.  But, some of you do, and I have kept track of your totals.  Danielle Richardet is a KIC volunteer (anyone who picks up trash is considered a KIC volunteer) who picks up cig butts for 20 minutes at a time and has been keeping track of her numbers.  Since May 1, she has collected 1427 butts.  If you add her total to the other 85 that we have counted, we have collected 1512 butts!!!  Now that does not include all the butts that we don't count!!!!   Great job-----hopefully, one day the beach will look less like an ash tray.

Since May 1, we have also counted 105 straws, but collected many more that we haven't counted.

Invite Your Friends

If you or your friends are picking up trash at other times or in other communities, please let me know.  I would love to include that on our blog.  KIC is for anyone who is picking up trash.  We know that all trash goes downhill to the streams and Oceans, so any trash that is picked up helps to keep our Oceans clean!

More About KIC Blog

I update the blog almost daily so that I can keep up with your emails, so please check the blog to see what has been added---it is really fun to see what others are finding on the beach.   Also you can become a follower if you would like and you can share the blog with your friends.

I will be making some changes to the blog at some point and would like to make a tab at the top for the totals so that you can see them right away.  However, for now, you will need to scroll to the very bottom of the blog to keep up with the totals for each zone and for each week.

Don't forget to feed the fish!!  Yes, you can feed the fish.  At the top of the blog are swimming fish---if you click inside the blue area (Ocean), you can feed the fish and watch them eat.

Keep up the great work and I hope you all find nests!!!

Keep It Clean,

ginger

Another 20 minutes from Danielle

Danielle Richardet collected another 547 butts and 21 straws from WB.  I have posted those numbers appropriately.

If you or friends are also picking up trash in your community or on the beach, please let me know and I will be happy to keep track on our "Community Totals" section.

week 3 (Thurs. 5/19) Renee zone 2

Since Renee is using a "large" reusable bag, I'm counting that as 4 bags.  The reason is:  my HT reusable bag will hold 3 plastic bags if filled jam-packed full!.

 Like I said in my last email....it was great getting back to the beach.  I really appreciated your suggestion about re-usable bags rather than plastic bags.  You might be happy to hear that it seems like more people are using the recycling station at Wrightsville Beach.  I bring my recyclables there and, after Earth Day, I could not fit any plastics or metals into the bins.  They were overflowing and people had to leave their things next to the bins rather than inside them.  A few days later, I was there when one of the recycle trucks was there and the drivers told me that they are having to do more loads because the bins are getting filled up more quickly.  While I was there about 4 guys from the college were recycling bags and bags of beer cans and other recyclables.  I said they must have had quite a party...they laughed but I also thanked them for recycling.  So, there are all kinds of signs that people are starting to recognize the importance of recycling. 

Zone 2  Thursday May 19th

I'm using a large re-usable shopping bag/tote.  I filled one bag.  

When you say, "one bag" it doesn't really sound like that much.  

So, I took a picture of all the shovels, pails, flip flops, nets, bottle caps and cigarette butts that fit into that bag. Maybe a picture will be worth more than words.  I also have a picture of some of the things I moved away from the shoreline....a baby stroller, and a chair.  

I also picked up pieces of styrofoam.  When I picked up the big pieces I noticed some tiny white pellets that were caught up in the debris.  Sadly, I couldn't pick it all up.  I've attached two more pics:  a close up and as far as I looked....little pieces caught in the debris all down the beach.

Until next week,

Renee



Ginger,
    As I looked over the pics I sent to you.....I realize I forgot to mention the two little wheels I found .....  they weren't together either.  They were seperated and I found them on different parts of the beach.


   Okay :o)  this really is my last email about trash until next week. :o)
Renee

week 3 (Sat 5/21) John & Tammy & Cindy zone 2

I always love it when we meet or see fellow trash collectors.


Hi Ginger!


John & I walked Zone 2 this morning with Cindy to introduce her to the zone and the art of turtle walking.  Not much to report besides an awesome sunrise and dolphins playing as we sat and watched after.  Sad to see how eroded most of our zone is and such a big drop off to deter the turtles from nesting I'm sure.  We found 2 full unopened beer cans, a chapstick, a few plastic bottles, some miscellaneous paper/plastic pieces of trash and our prized find....a sand toy and bucket.  So minus the sand toys, we picked up about 2 plastic grocery bags of trash.


As we were leaving, a group arrived with big plastic orange bags with the WB logo on them and it looked like they were off to pick up trash.

"WB Ducks" week 3 (Fri 5/20) Susan Miller zone 3

Hi Ginger,

I was really excited about getting started this morning. In fact, yesterday evening I asked my husband, "Do you know what tomorrow is? He replied without hesitation, "Turtle day." That is because I had been talking about it all week. ;)

This year I am collecting litter in a large reusable bag from Ikea that my sister gave me. I think it is actually intended to be a beach bag, which is nice because it has an arm strap and a plastic coating so that I can easily hose it off each week. It is 4 times the size of a regular plastic grocery bag.

This morning (Friday, May 20) in Zone 3, the litter was really not so bad. However, the tide line was extremely high and the cut off was very steep, so that led me to believe that a lot of the litter was probably already swept out to sea overnight. I picked up:
2 beer cans
1 soda can
1 beer bottle
1 plastic funnel
1 miniature toy truck
several straws and plastic bottle caps
1 Subway bag, which had blown up in the dunes
70 cigarette butts
1 mini plastic spoon
1 plastic knife
1 clock in/out slip that had the employee's full name and hours worked on it

There were a lot of butts around Johnnie Mercer's Pier- a lot more than I had time to pick up, unfortunately. The nicest surprise of the day was when I reached beach access #32, two ducks came waddling over the dune. They then turned around and walked straight down the access. It was really very cute.

Have a happy weekend,
Susan Miller

week 3 (Wed 5/18) Allison Burnett zones 1 & 2

Zones 1 and 2 May 20,  we collected one plastic grocery bag full of various plastic cups, plastic baggies, beach toy, plastic water bottle, etc.

Lost "Soles" by Patrick and Kim Shovlin (wed 5/18) zone 5

I love it when kids help their parents with environmental and other social issues and I love it when parents bestow these follows to their kids.  Such is the case with Kim Shovlin and her son, Patrick.  They have been helping watch for sea turtle activity and keeping the beach clean for a couple of years now.  It seems they are paving the way for lost "soles"  ;)   ( For now, I have counted their "small" kitchen bag as two bags since we know that one 13 gallon bag = 4 bags)


Hey we walked today here. What we found
It was a small kitchen trash bag
In it was
2 socks
At stuck with a ball
Half full beer can
1flip flop
2 soles to shoes
And a lot of cigarettes
Wednesday. And we are zone 5 thanks

Beautiful Morning in Zone 4 Michelle Leonard (wed 5/18)

Hi Ginger,

Today is May 18, 2011.  I did my first beach walk at Zone 4 and only found 1 soda can:)  The sun was coming up in the east and the full moon was setting in the west!  It was absolutely beautiful.  The only thing that could have been better was if the recycling barrels had been emptied.  They were overflowing with trash when I was by the Oceanic Restaurant on Monday, and still had not been emptied.  You could tell that people had been trying to keep things clean because the plastic bottles and aluminum cans were stacked around the recycling barrels.  Hopefully as the summer gets closer, the cans will be emptied more often.  No turtle tracks, but lots of hope.  Michelle

Danielle Richardet

Danielle Richardet and her family pick up cigarette butts and other litter for 20 minutes a day on WB.  They are keeping track of the number of butts and also the number of straws.  I have added these numbers to our totals.   In May 2011 Danielle has collected 880 cig butts and 56 straws.  

In 64 days she has collected 17,786 butts.  That's a lot of butts!!!

You can view her blog here.

week 3 (tues 5/17) John & Terri zone 1

Ginger,

     I picked up one plastic bag (grocery bag size) of trash this morning. Items included shoes and plastic toys.  I also saw an unleashed dog and a beach canopy.

week 3 (mon5/16) John and Ginger zone 4

We entered our zone at access 32 and first thing John said was: "there are no trashcans".  He was right, there were cans at that access last year, but not yesterday.  We started picking up trash immediately and not just small micro trash, but large pieces that you could see from the dune line.  It makes me curious if the lack of cans at that point was  a reason we saw an accumulation of trash there???  I'm not sure, but am curious.


I did see a dog taking a poop ( see my comments below).  I have to say this is difficult for me b/c I love dogs and I like dog people, but poop at the beach is not a good thing.  Also, dogs could be very dangerous to nesting turtles or freshly laid nests.


We used reusable bags so I had to do a conversion when I got home to calculate how many plastic grocery store bags of trash fit into one reusable bag.  This is what I found out:  1 very full reusable bag will hold 3 plastic grocery bags of trash----if not filled very full, it is more like 2.5.


John and I therefore picked up 3.5 bags of trash.


Our treasure was a really good wine opener and two cloth dinner napkins (comes in handy since I am trying to use cloth napkins more vs. paper ones)  :)


Our trash: (you know I kept, sorted and ananlyed----that's why Dick calls me TQ) :)


lots of sandy gross plastic and paper stuff that I didn't identify


1pair of very large psychodelic worn out flip flops
1 braided leather belt
1 styrofoam cup
1 mylar balloon that said Happy Mother's Day (I guess it was the match to Nancy's)
2 balloon strings
1 balloon remnant
31 food wrappers and/or containers
2 plastic cups
3 plastic cup lids
5 paper beer coasters that had blown off Oceanic Pier (there were more to be gotten, but I ran out of time)
3 fireworks remnants
2 ziplock bags
2 plastic bags
1 plastic bottle
3 plastic spoons
18 toys or toy pieces
1 plastic 6-pack holder :(
25 bottle caps
23 straws
2 cigar tips
10 cigarette butts (saw lots more, but no time to pick those up when looking for turtle tracks)
1 metal rod?
1 dog poop---I saw the dog in the act, very kindly informed the owner of the fine and gave him one of the plastic bags I had found as litter on the beach so he could pick up the poop, which was right at the shore and water had already began to wash over it.  The owner was very friendly and did pick up the poop.

week 3 Dick and Linda Chapman (mon 5/16) zone 1

1/2 grocery bag trash

1 towel

1 boogie board

I think Nancy is right, the north end has more garbage cans whereas the south end is sorely lacking in garbage cans,  The problem is that people will use garbage cans when they have them but for them to take their garbage with them....   What a unique idea!

week 3 Kathleen Holly, zone 5

Kathleen Holly is a new volunteer with WBSTP and KIC; however she has been walking in zone 5 for months during the early mornings.  She has also been picking up trash during her walks, so we will likely get several postings from her per week---which is great.  The more litter we collect, the more we are helping Mother Ocean.  Kathleen will also be monitoring zone 3 for nests on Wednesday mornings.

Kathleen's emails are posted below:  She estimates that her total pick up is 10 bags for these two days so far, which I will add to our totals.

(1st email)

So far I have picked up 5 tee shirts, 3 sheets, no pillows, lots of fishing string (near the shoreline), many, many butts (cigarette), 


I have picked up 4 doggie remains, a sharp plastic knife, a pair of shoes (nasty soles), 3 children's sandles; no matches, no latex goodies, yet, but I did find a deflated plastic balloon with water in it and a string attached washed up near the jetty.  Maybe about 12 kiddie shovels, scoops, strainers and plastic handles to pails.  Water and soda bottles, fast food wrappers and I am not even walking regularly yet!!!!!!!!!


Yes,  I wear gloves, carry a big plastic bag and dump at intervals. 

(2nd email)
I use and reuse a grocery bag until it finally falls apart.  I wear latex gloves.  I dump periodically in the appropriate bins.  Today was plastic shovel, styrofoam cups, cig butts, beer bottle, bandaids; no tees or towels today, nor "used latex items" or diapers. thank goodness.

One more report from Nancy for sat. 5/14

Well, I guess Nancy can have a party after finding a case of unopened beer!!!  That would be a treasure for some  :)    *Of note:  In two weeks, Nancy (one person) has collected 76 balloons with strings attached----this is truly a problem.  Many of these balloons have been in the bird sanctuary and we know that birds often become entangled in the strings of balloons.  Please educate your friends about the dangers of balloons.


Hi Ginger,

The blog looks great.....awesome job!  Love the swimming fish!!

Here is my trash report from yesterday, 05/14/11:

14 balloons and strings scattered along the tide line.  Several were on the north end where the bird sanctuary is located, so that was especially distressing!!

1 beach chair

1 boogie board

2 grocery store size bags of random trash

1- 24 pack of Budweiser  (I picked the box up expecting to find it full of empty cans.  However, it was full of unopened cans!!  Only one or two beers were missing from the box.  What in the world??)

Just for the record, I do not accept plastic bags from the grocery store, either.  Sometimes, I make reference to a grocery store size bag of trash just for the purpose of using a standardized way of describing how much litter I collected.  Mr. Spicer from the town kindly gave me one of their large orange trash bags when he saw me picking up litter last summer.  I have saved that bag and reused it many times to collect trash while I'm monitoring the beach.  Using a reusable bag is also a great idea!  When my orange bag wears out completely, I will also bring a reusable bag.  As a matter of fact, I will bring the reusable Wings bag I picked up off the beach last week!!  

Good luck monitoring the beach tomorrow!

Nancy

week 3 (Sun. 5/15) Kym Davidson zone 5

I always love Kym's emails b/c she always always finds the most interesting "treasures".  She must have a whole house full of sea glass  :)


Zone 5
Trash: half bag (grocery size) mostly small plastics, cig butts


Recyclables: one bag, bottles & cans


Treasure: green sea glass & an abundance of shells on display


Thanks,
Kym Davidson

week 3 (Sun. 5/15) Kim Meyer zone 1

Your blog looks great!  Love the fish.  Hope you had a great vacation. 

I picked up two bags of trash on Sunday, 5/15, in zone 1.  It was actually pretty clean but then the tide was also very high.  Hopefully it had not come up and gotten most of the litter already.  After I recycled the aluminum cans, assorted plastics (mostly children's toys), and 1 glass bottle, I actually had very little trash.  It's a shame more people couldn't have used the recycling bins conveniently located to do the same.

Thanks!
Kim

Week 3 (Sun. 5/15) Morgan and Kathleen Britton Zone 0

In the email below, Kathleen is referring to the idea of using 5 gallon buckets to collect trash vs. plastic bags.  She also suggests bucket containers that you buy kitty litter in---another great idea for re-use.  I will be using a reusable bag or a bucket---not sure which yet.   For the sake of comparing our data to 2009 and 2010, I will convert all info in terms of grocery store sized plastic bags.


Hi Ginger!

I think the blog site looks great.  I love the fish and the overall look is clean and neat (KIC, man!!)

I love the idea of the 5 gallon bucket.  Something else that might work are the hard plastic kitty litter containers.

In zone 0 this morning Morgan and I picked up 2.5 grocery store bags of trash.  These contained mostly beer bottles (I would say about 16 or so), several beer cans, 2 water bottles, 4 dorito type snack bags, 1 mylar ballon with string (I always think it's such a score to pick up a balloon), several straws and noticibly FEW cigarette butts (I'd say we only picked up 5 or so).

Hope to see you soon!

week 2

Hey Ginger,

As I rode along the north end this AM, I felt very pleased and surprised at how clean the beach was.  That is until.......I rode past Stone St.  Between there and the Blockade Runner, the amount of litter and items left behind on the beach was absolutely unbelievable! 

I collected the following: 

ONE glass vodka bottle filled with several rolled up paper notes. They were written by several different young girls each stating their hopes, wishes, and dreams for their future. Some of the notes were of a spiritual nature and a few talked about how they wanted to accomplish great things in their lifetimes; how they wanted to bring good to the world. 

I sure wish they would've started off on the right foot by not littering Mother Ocean in such a way.......or drinking vodka!! ;) 





ONE pair of shoes

ONE bed sheet

ONE huge sea turtle raft  :(

THREE shirts

FIVE beach chairs

NINE towels

1 3/4 KITCHEN sized garbage bags full of litter including cans, plastic bottles & wrappers

I returned another of the Oceanic's chairs back to the pier which was left in the tide line.....yet again!!

AND last, but not least, I unknowingly collected one tick who attempted to hitch a ride home with me while dining on my wrist.  Ouch! 

Photos of one of the pig sties near the Blockade Runner attached.  All the towels, cans, bottles, the raft, and a broken plastic baseball bat and ball were scattered on the beach to the right of the chairs.  I had to make three trips to the trash cans on the 4-wheeler to get all that junk off the beach.  :(

Have a good day,
Nancy

Hi Ginger,

This morning, I collected the following from the beach:

ONE beach towel

ONE ladies jacket

ONE grocery store sized bag of random litter

ONE broken beach umbrella

EIGHT balloons; some with strings  :(  (Six of these were the clear plastic type with a metallic design.  One of them said "Happy Mother's Day".  Somehow, that did not make me feel very happy.  The other two were the usual colored balloons, one green, one red.  I found these scattered along the shoreline from Shell Island Resort, south to Carolina Yacht Club.  

I also have noticed the trash cans are commonly over flowing, and are not well distributed throughout the beach strand.  There are very few cans on the north end, and maybe only one can between Stone St. and the Blockade Runner.  I'm going to call this morning to make sure they are aware of the lack of cans in many areas on the beach and that they are not being emptied as needed.

From the beach,

Nancy

Hi Ginger,

Here is an update from the beach this week:

Yesterday (05/12), I collected.....are you ready for this?  Are you sitting down?  A WHOPPING 24 balloons and string from the tide line.  Well, in truth, I collected only 23 of them because one was in the bird sanctuary on the north end and I didn't want to enter the nesting area to retrieve it.  However, I was very concerned about it being in the protected area, so I photographed it and reported it to the Audubon representatives with the hopes they can get it out of the dunes without disturbing the birds.  This is very disheartening and disturbing.  The balloon problem on the beach is actually worse than ever!!

I also collected 2 towels, a large reusable Wings bag, one chair and 2 grocery store bags full of litter from the beach.

Today (05/13), I plucked another 10 balloons with string from the tide line.  Unbelievable!!  There were two trash cans overturned with trash scattered all around just north of Stone St.  I stopped and helped a lady pick it all up and place it back into the up righted cans.

Have a great weekend!

Nancy 

Week 1 trash collected by Nancy

Nancy is our tireless leader of the WBSTP.  As such, she monitors the beach by herself on ATV for the first two weeks of the season when nesting activity is likely to be the lowest.  And, she also picks up trash. Here are reports of her findings during these first two weeks.  You will not believe all the balloons and string she collected.

Hey Ginger,
 
So far, I have collected about three grocery store bags of trash from the beach, plus this morning I hauled four broken beach chairs to the trash cans and collected two beach towels.  This morning's collection of litter included NINE balloons and strings!   These were scattered along the tide line.  One of the balloons sported these words:  "Gill Security".  What a way to advertise!  On Monday, David collected a whole bunch of black and orange helium filled balloons and ribbons from the beach on the south end.  There were about 10 balloons in the bunch.
 
On Sunday, I noticed a cluster of about six white balloons tied to the Mallard St. Beach Access sign and another cluster of the same size and color tied to the entrance of the Surf Club on Mallard St.  Knowing this was against town ordinance, I called town hall to report my observation.  I was directed to report balloons tied to street signs or displayed at events to Erin Moller in the zoning and enforcement office at Wrightsville Beach.  Other volunteers can do the same by calling Erin at 256-7937, Option #3.
 
Have a great day!
 
Nancy



Hey Ginger,

I'm going to have to update this often b/c the days all seem to run together, then I can't remember what the heck I picked up.  Since the last update add to the total:

7 grocery store bags of trash

2 busted fishing poles left below the high tide line.  Fishing line and tackle were still attached.  

5 beach chairs

One bed sheet and a few towels

Twice I've taken chairs belonging to the Oceanic from the tide line back up under the pier.

Today I found a single pink balloon in front of Shell Island Resort.  

Photos of the good, the bad, and the ugly attached.

See you soon,

Nancy