Clean Sweep for Beach

By Lookout Staff

They're coming.

More than 5,000 volunteers will descend on Santa Monica's beaches armed with trash bags to clean up garbage, debris and recyclables this Saturday at the 16th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day.

Along with the rubber-glove-wearing volunteers who will clean up empty soda bottles, cigarette butts, candy wrappers and other trash left on the beach, 700 volunteers on kayaks from the Ocean Conservation Society will fan out across the water and collect debris from the bay.

Last year more than 8,500 helped clean up Santa Monica and Venice beaches, collecting more than 55,000 pounds of waste and 5,000 pounds of recyclable materials.

The annual event is sponsored statewide by the California Coastal Commission and locally by Heal the Bay and the City of Santa Monica. Clean-up will begin at 9 a.m. and run till noon at several cleanup sites.

Those sites are 415 Pacific Coast Highway; Chet Beach; North of Pier at Tower 15; North of Pier at Tower 1550; South of Pier, Tower 17 and Towers 27-28.

Participants over the age of 18 and children attending with their parents will have to sign waivers, which will be available at the cleanup sites on Saturday. Volunteers under the age of 18 must have a parent or legal guardian sign a liability waiver to participate. The waiver is available at www.healthebay.org. For more information call (800) HEAL-BAY.