We haven’t cleaned a beach since February, I think. Honestly it has all been a blur. I’ve never gotten more put off projects finished up in my life. We stopped beach clean ups for obvious reasons, not long after that everything shut down anyway. Now that things are opening back up we are allowed to resume clean ups. I just have to set up some guidelines for everyone’s safety.
One thing I would like people to take notice of … the beaches are not that full of trash. They are a lot cleaner for this time of year. That unfortunately will change soon.
Most of the beach trash washes up from the ocean. The majority of Delaware beach trash comes from the Delaware Bay. The land pollution as of late has been down a lot, less traffic on many levels. Land trash is the trash people throw out on the ground that eventually winds up in the water. Any outside land source, and there are many, I could list hundreds. All that trash winds up in the water eventually and then washes up onto our beaches, or is consumed by marine life. Another reason to do these clean ups.
This the third year we have been doing weekly beach clean ups. In the summer we clean on Tuesdays starting at 9 AM at a different park beach each week. We will start June 16th, 2020 at Beach Plum Island State Park. With the start of Phase 2 openings we are good to go for a little Tuesday beach cleaning.
Volunteers need to bring their own gloves. DSF will provide buckets to collect trash. DS Custom Tackle provides bottled water and trash bags Hand sanitizer from easySpeak is available to clean hands after and keep bucket handles clean. Everyone must bring a mask, if you are from the same household follow social distancing. Anyone else not from the same households, follow your social distancing guidelines. There will be a little speech in the parking lot at 9 AM before we start. Anyone who cannot follow guidelines can not help. I am responsible for everyone’s safety. It is what it is.
We usually meet afterwards for a snack at Iron Hill Brewery we are working on how to go about that part of the day with the new restrictions.
Also the Broadkill Beach Store is feeding us pizzas on occasion. I think that will be the first beach clean up snack in two weeks. That pizza is great!