Tips For An Easy And Awesome Mini Beach Clean Up
Over the summer, my son did two weeks of Corky Carroll’s junior surf camp at Bolsa Chica State Beach. He LOVES being in the ocean and playing in the waves, so this was the perfect summer activity for him. It was also a nice arrangement for me too, as I got to visit the beach every day as a result. After leaving my lil grom in the care of the most awesome surfer dude teacher ever, I was walking back across the sand to the parking lot when I noticed there was a shockingly high level of trash and plastic bits along the way. So I decided there on the spot to do a mini solo beach clean up project for the next two weeks and document it on social media.
My daughter was too young to do surf camp with big brother, so she tagged along with me and helped me spot the smallest pieces nestled in the sand. She also loves the beach, and enjoyed this mommy and mini me beach clean up project every morning.
Since not all of my readers follow me on Twitter and Instagram (but why not tho?), I thought I’d share the daily photos here as well. Check out my daily hauls below, along with my thoughts on beach trash!
Day 1:
My son had a blast at @ccsurfschool’s junior surf camp! Best surf camp in Orange County. 🤙🏼🏄🏻♂️😎
Every day after I dropped him off, I picked up plastic trash as I walked back from the ocean to my car. Here’s my first day’s haul! #protecttheocean #beachcleanup pic.twitter.com/HEv0KB4qXj
— Eco Friendly Mama (@EcoFriendlyMa) August 6, 2019
Day 2:
Day 2 of picking up trash at the beach while my son does @ccsurfschool! It’s an easy way to keep the sand clean for future generations 💚🌊🏄🏻♂️#beachcleanup #keepouroceansclean pic.twitter.com/wao1B2VjAz
— Eco Friendly Mama (@EcoFriendlyMa) August 6, 2019
By the way, this is the distance between the ocean and the parking lot:
You may remember that I wrote this post on the massive beach clean up effort during Kids Ocean Day last year. This was not that level of challenge. Because as one person I couldn’t hope to have the impact that massive effort from hundreds of people had on beach cleanliness. I just wanted to make a small difference with what time and effort I could give between dropping my son off for camp and caring for my daughter the rest of the morning.
So my mini beach clean up challenge to myself was to walk in the straight line between the ocean and the parking lot and pick up every bit of plastic I saw along the way.
I also picked up other kinds of trash, except for natural materials like leftover coal from bonfires and bits of driftwood. That said, plastic was by far the predominant trash material found in the sand there!
Day 3:
Day 3 of my mini solo #beachcleanup project. No idea what that long plastic piece is but it definitely doesn’t belong in the sand!#keepouroceansclean#ecoblogger pic.twitter.com/5LX1iCY2CB
— Eco Friendly Mama (@EcoFriendlyMa) August 8, 2019
On this day, my daughter wanted to help out with her own handful too so she collected these pieces of mostly styrofoam alongside me. They kept blowing away because styrofoam is so light and easy to break apart, and she’d have to chase them down again. It was a bit of a circular effort, but she eventually wrangled the big pieces into her tiny grasp and dropped them successfully in the covered bin before they blew away again.
I love my little eco-warrior princess!
Day 4:
Day 4 #beachcleanup – Today’s haul included a lot of plastic bottle caps for some reason 🤔♻️💧#ecoblogger #keepouroceansclean pic.twitter.com/nsPyZb5LGh
— Eco Friendly Mama (@EcoFriendlyMa) August 9, 2019
By the way, the waves at Bolsa Chica State Beach are perfect to learn surfing on. The water has a gentle slope and stays shallow for quite a distance. So even smaller kids can go far out enough to catch a decent wave and still be able to stand up in the water if necessary.
Day 5:
Day 5: it’s amazing to me that even though I’m walking the same straight path from the ocean to my car, even on the 5th day there so much more to be picked up! Like waves against the shore the garbage springs eternal 😞♻️🗑 #beachcleanup #keepouroceansclean pic.twitter.com/iFj2mnSNz3
— Eco Friendly Mama (@EcoFriendlyMa) August 10, 2019
Looks like someone had a little party with paper plates, plastic utensils, and water bottles, but neglected to throw out all their trash! It’s disheartening to see how much people litter on the sand every day.
“Like waves against the shore, the garbage springs eternal.”
Day 6:
Day 6: a whole lot of small plastic pieces in today’s mini solo #beachcleanup haul including a kite handle! Hopefully by picking them up I’ve kept some micro plastics from entering the ocean eco system. 💚♻️🌊#keepouroceansclean pic.twitter.com/jsaSBYd0Ow
— Eco Friendly Mama (@EcoFriendlyMa) August 14, 2019
Day 7:
Day 7 of my mini solo #beachcleanup project, where I walk in a straight line from the ocean to my car and pick up whatever plastic bits are in my path. 7 days and it seems like the amount of garbage is never ending! 😭🌊♻️ #saveouroceans #keepourbeachesclean pic.twitter.com/yjqkRcQAMQ
— Eco Friendly Mama (@EcoFriendlyMa) August 14, 2019
While this handful may look like a smaller haul than some of the other days, it contained a ton of mini plastic bits, stuck somewhere between their formerly complete plastic shapes and breaking down into microplastics in the ocean water. Hopefully by scooping them up and putting them in a proper trash receptacle, I’ve kept them from re-entering the breakdown spiral and becoming microplastic pollutants.
Day 8:
Day 8: last day of my mini solo #beachcleanup project. What I learned:
+Garbage at our beaches is never ending!
+Styrofoam is the worst bc it breaks into tiny bits that blow out of the bin back into the sand.
+Micro plastics are a REAL problem.
+Every effort helps! 💚♻️🌊 pic.twitter.com/Lh83n1ca6c
— Eco Friendly Mama (@EcoFriendlyMa) August 15, 2019
And that’s a wrap on my mini beach clean up project at Bolsa Chica State Beach!
In case you’re wondering how my son did at surf camp, he had claimed on day 1 that he would not want to surf at all. He planned to just play in the sand and boogie board the entire two weeks of camp. When I came to pick him up three hours later, he was out on a surfboard with an instructor, learning how to ride the waves!
By the end of the two weeks, he was confident and experienced enough to paddle out by himself and try to catch waves on his own. While he wasn’t able to stand up for more than a few seconds, he wasn’t deterred and kept getting up and going back out there. I never thought I’d be a surfer mom type, but there I was cheering for him from the shore.
So proud of my lil grom surfer dude.
If you’d like to help keep our beaches and oceans clean, please consider the following beach day tips:
#1 – Bring food and drinks in reusable, plastic-free containers. The less waste you create, the less waste there will be.
#2 – Throw out all your garbage in a covered trash bin so the wind doesn’t sweep it out to sea later in the day. If there isn’t one at the beach, wait until you find a trash can that is covered, or is far enough away from the water!
#3 – Pick up trash even if it’s not yours! Pay it forward and good karma etc.
#4 – Join a local coastal clean up crew! In SoCal where I live, our local Coastkeeper chapter has beach clean up days once a month.
This little beach clean up experiment was a success for me, in that it showed how important it is that we all pitch in to keep our beaches clean. They are far more polluted with (mostly plastic) waste than they were when I was a kid. And it was interesting to see the bits of beach trash up close and imagine how they got there.
I’ve heard of people finding some pretty outlandish stuff during their beach clean up sessions, like typewriters and kitchen appliances. I think the oddest thing I found was the kite handle. Oh and maybe the one random unused zip tie. Who brings a zip tie to the beach?
So now tell me, what is the strangest piece of trash that you’ve picked up at the beach??
