— Photo by Jim Collins
Armed with reusable bags and buckets, thousands of local residents will participate in the world’s largest trash cleanup event this weekend.
Orange County will join others from across the state for California’s 35th annual Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.
“Trash is an ever-growing concern for our communities and coastal environments,” officials wrote on the event’s registration website.
Trash from inland communities travels through storm drains and rivers, polluting the region’s waterways and beaches, OC Coastkeeper explains on their website.
“Trash cleanups stand as a last line of defense to prevent this debris from polluting local waters and harming wildlife.,” OC Coastkeepers officials wrote.
Last year, more 7,000 Orange County volunteers collected more 53,000 pounds of trash and recyclable materials during the three-hour countywide event.
This year, Coastkeeper expects to remove even more trash from local waterways, to preserve and protect the coast.
Thousands of southern California residents will remove trash from more than 40 cleanup sites across Orange County, including various parks, beaches, trails.
In Newport Beach, volunteers will gather at: Muth Interpretive Center in Upper Newport Bay, 2301 University Dr.; Orange Street and Oceanfront Boulevard; Newport Landing Whale Watching, 309 Palm St., Suite A; Back Bay Science Center, 600 Shellmaker Rd.; and Crystal Cove State Park, 8471 N. Coast Hwy., (meeting locations are Pelican Point parking lot #4 and Reef Point parking lot).
Participants must sign up through the OC Parks online registration form.
For more information, visit coastkeeper.org/get-involved/coastal-cleanup-day/ and eventbrite.com/e/orange-county-coastal-cleanup-day-tickets-67300071325 or email CoastalCleanupDay@Coastkeeper.org
