In just a few hours, volunteers in Santa Barbara collected more than 3,600 pounds of trash from local beaches, creeks, and parks for the annual Coastal Cleanup Day last Saturday.
Common items included plastic pieces, cigarette butts, and food wrappers, but there were a few surprises: a curling iron, 53 pounds of golf balls (530 balls total) at just one site, a pink butterfly stiletto, and even a rattlesnake hiding beneath a pile of debris.
Explore Ecology and the County of Santa Barbara Resource Recovery and Waste Management Division organized the local rendition of the statewide event. This year’s cleanup brought together 1,038 volunteers at dozens of sites from Jalama to Rincon.
Preliminary reports show that participants removed 3,611 pounds of litter while covering 61 miles of coastline and inland waterways…