Crystal Cove benefits from cleanup

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH--Picking up tiny pieces of plastic and foam from an

otherwise beautiful beach can really get you thinking: Who could be

so inconsiderate as to litter at a place like Crystal Cove? How could

anyone possibly throw bottle caps and cigarette butts in the street,

even miles from the ocean where it will eventually turn up?

These were some of the more negative thoughts amid the otherwise

upbeat energy of Saturday’s annual Coastal Cleanup Day.

“I didn’t think there would be as much trash out here as there

was,” said Janele Shockley, a Sage Hill School student who had

volunteered alongside her mom, Heide Alexander.

“It makes you a little mad,” Alexander said. “People wouldn’t have

to be here today if others took the time to just throw away their

trash.”

The mother-daughter team was among about 200 volunteers at Crystal

Cove State Park, which in turn made up a fraction of the thousands of

volunteers statewide. Litterbugs aside, the pair said it was a fun

and satisfying day they will probably take part in next year.

The annual event takes place along the state’s coastline every

year, coordinated by the California Coastal Commission with the help

of local sponsor organizations. In Newport Beach, for example,

Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends coordinated about 1,000

volunteers for a very successful cleanup day in the Back Bay.

The local Surfrider Foundation chapter sponsored the cleanup in

Corona del Mar State Beach. And along other portions of Newport, the

city was the lead agency coordinating volunteer and sponsor efforts.

“In the 13 years I’ve been involved, it definitely seems like it’s

getting better,” said Rita McCoy, a volunteer coordinator year-round

for Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends. “Before you would actually

see things like refrigerators and batteries, but people are getting

the idea about littering. It’s getting better.”

King Thomas of Newport Beach and his 14-year-old son, Brian, said

their half-full garbage sacks were filled mainly with little pieces

of trash: plastic bottle caps, bits of plastic and Styrofoam and a

few oddities mixed in -- some stuff you just wouldn’t expect to find

in the brush at Crystal Cove.

“I’d say the strangest thing was a huge pair of discarded

underwear,” King said. “Yes, I had my gloves on for that.”

“Luckily, it was mostly the little stuff,” added Brian, a Boy

Scout who said he plans to volunteer again next year.

Winter Bonnin, coordinator of the Crystal Cove volunteers,

emphasized that it’s this little stuff that will continue to be a

problem, long after the elusive day when people finally stop

littering.

“The pieces of Styrofoam are a big problem, they last forever and

the wildlife eat them,” Bonnin said. “People come out here and think

it’s clean, but you can literally just sit in one place amid some

brush and just pick up little pieces for an hour.”

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at june.casagrande@ latimes.com.