Adopt-a-Beach participants removed 129,697 cigarettes and filters from Great Lakes beaches in 2010. Photo: churl. Retrieved from Flickr.
It’s like adopting a highway — Great Lakes style.
Instead of cleaning up the turnpike, 10,000 residents in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin adopted beaches and collected 31,295 pounds of litter in 2010 as part of the Alliance for the Great Lakes’ Adopt-a-Beach program.
Beach adopters collect litter on the shoreline, conduct water quality tests and keep records that tell the alliance about beach health, possible pollution sources and other features. The alliance program was launched in 2003, though alliance volunteers have participated in the International Coastal Cleanup since 1991, said Jamie Cross, Adopt-a-Beach program manager.
Results are entered into an online database. The information is later shared with beach health officials. Within the next six months, Cross said, the alliance plans to take the online data and create a system that will give the public access to near real-time conditions of the beaches.
The program currently monitors 292 sites. Beach adopters collected a variety of litter this year, from the typical bottles and cans to light sticks, diapers, fishing gear, tires and leftover food. Among the most common items beach adopters found–cigarettes, food wrappers, straws, caps and lids.
Cigarettes topped the litter list– adopters in all states collected a total of 129,697 cigarettes and filters. The alliance also released 2010 results for individual states in addition to the grand totals.
Though Oscar the Grouch might call 6,895 balloons or 35,222 food wrappers good eatin’, alliance staff designed the program to improve beach conditions, assess beach health and investigate water quality.
The 2011 Adopt-a-Beach program kick off runs from April 20 to May 4, 2011.