By Manuel Alonso
Thank you for joining The Watershed Project and 59,722 volunteers statewide for a great Coastal Cleanup Day. The Watershed project had 352 Volunteers at Shimada Friendship Park in Richmond and 405 Volunteers at the Albany bulb site. The total trash collected statewide was 502,710 lb, of this 982 lb was found at Shimada Friendship Park and 1,113lb at Albany Bulb.
Also special thanks to the hundreds of you that brought their own reusable water bottle, buckets and gloves, thanks to this we were able to reduce the total amount of plastic bags used considerably.
If you would like to learn more about Coastal Cleanup Day please visit this website and join us next year alongside your families, friends, coworkers, scout troops, school groups, and service groups.
Here are the most commonly found items at Coastal Cleanup Day:
| Top ten 1988-2017 |
Count | Percentage |
| #1. Cigarettes/Cigarette Filters | 7,535,411 | 36.96% |
| #2. Food Wrappers/Containers | 2,193,018 | 10.76% |
| #3. Caps/Lids | 1,861,923 | 9.13% |
| #4. Bags (paper and plastic) | 1,572,241 | 7.71% |
| #5. Cups/Plates/Utensils | 1,113,129 | 5.46% |
| #6. Straws/Stirrers | 863,481 | 4.24% |
| #7. Glass Beverage Bottles | 679,709 | 3.33% |
| #8. Plastic Beverage Bottles | 554,825 | 2.72% |
| #9. Beverage Cans | 496,117 | 2.43% |
| #10. Construction Material | 367,729 | 1.80% |
Most Unusual Items Award
The competition for the most unusual item was fierce as always. The top contenders for Shimada Friendship Park this year were a plastic rat, a coconut which the contestant insisted had floated in from Hawaii and a santa hat – ultimately the rat prevailed. Check out this picture of it.
In Albany the winner was a little larger, the bottom part of a porta potty was found by this family: Albany bulb most unusual item (they are sitting on it).
Survey
Help us improve Coastal Cleanup for everyone by answering a few quick questions. It’ll take 5 minutes.
Survey takers will be mailed a coupon for tortilla chips and guacamole from Rubio’s (while supplies last) and entered into a drawing for the CCD Prize Package (which includes a $100 VISA gift card, a 2019 Coastal Cleanup t-shirt, a vintage Coastal Cleanup poster, a zippered canvas tote bag, and a Kleen Kanteen vacuum insulated, stainless steel mug).
