more towels at Shell Island, cans in the sand, and recycling concerns at WB

Name : Kim Meyer

Zone : 1

Date Walked : Sunday, 7/29/2012

# Grocery Bags : 5

There was a lot more trash than usual on Sunday in zone 1.  I counted 10 plastic bottles and 16 beer cans.  Someone must have been denial because I spotted a portion of a beer can half buried in the sand.  As I dug it out, I noticed another, and another, and another, etc.  In all there were 13 buried beer cans in one small area.  It made me wonder why they went to so much trouble to bury them when they could have at least thrown them in the trash if they were too lazy to take them to be recycled.  

I also found a float that is usually used in the pool and a small boogie board. I also found 3 of those net bags that are usually from toy as well as a lot of toys.

  And of course 16 towels at Shell Island resort.

   There also were two ant holes in the outer area of the nest in zone 1.  I covered them up.

Then on the way back I spotted what I thought was garbage but turned out to be a dead seagull.  Lucky for me I had found a large kid's shovel and was able to carry it to the beach public access # 3 and bury it.  I marked the grave with a 'B' just in case Lindsay or someone from Audubon needed to check it out.  I attached pictures just in case as well. Of course now it's Monday and the B is probably gone.

I have a question about the recycling at WB.  I normally sort out what I can and cannot recycle as I'm walking.  What I can't, obviously I throw away.  What I can, I take to recycling as I leave the beach. I noticed an article recently (I believe it was in the Lumina News) that the recycling center at WB is only for residents.  So I'm wondering if the expectation is that I spend 2 hours on Sunday mornings cleaning up trash at WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH and then I carry it home and recycle it at the center which is not really that close to my house.  I take my personal recycling usually to the one by Noble and not to WB. 

It seems to me that the point of recycling is being missed.  I'm just thrilled that people do it and I could careless where they take it to recycle it.  If people aren't permitted to drop off their recycling at the beach after they paid $20 in a meter to enjoy the beach a few hours and they don't take it home then it will either go in the trash to be sent to a landfill or it is left on the beach and could easily wash out to sea.  I'm sure it costs the town money to take care of the recycling but I also think there's a much bigger picture here.