About 60 volunteers slipped into rubber gloves on Saturday to pick up trash and debris along the Sacramento River in Colusa.
The annual Colusa River Cleanup, sponsored by Premier Mushrooms, was part of the state’s largest annual volunteer event, organized by the California Coastal Commission.
Saturday’s event was held in conjunction with the 38th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day, which focuses on protecting inland rivers and the ocean from an abundance of trash that harms marine life and degrades the environment.
“Sometimes, not every community can do this on the same day the Coastal Commission does it, but we were lucky to have this day planned out for that,” said local organizer Jennifer Diaz. “Believe it or not, the California Coastal Commission and what we do together is the biggest volunteer cleanup throughout the year.”
Local volunteers of all ages trampled over rocks from the state park and boat launch area all the way to the Colusa Bridge, picking up the many pounds of trash left by people that could wash into the river at the onset of fall rain and make its way all the way to the ocean.
“It’s very significant for California,” Diaz said.
For the past two years, the Colusa and statewide events were limited to only self-guided cleanups because of the pandemic, but this year’s event saw renewed effort by volunteers.
With 60 percent of the cleanup sites reporting by Monday, the statewide count stood at 27,185 volunteers, said Eben Schwartz, marine debris program manager for the California Coastal Commission,
By the time the complete tally is known, volunteers would have gathered hundreds of tons of trash at beaches, shorelines, and inland waterways, cleaning up at locations in virtually all of California’s 58 counties.
Cleanups took place up and down the coast, from the Oregon border to Mexico, and as far inland as Lake Tahoe.
“We were amazed by the response to the call for self-guided cleanups over these past two years,” said the Commission’s Executive Director Jack Ainsworth, in a news release. “But it’s not surprising – Californians cherish their coast and want to take care of it. Even so, we are so pleased about returning to in-person cleanups. These events really do more than help us capture huge amounts of trash before it enters the ocean. Coastal Cleanup Day brings us together to celebrate our precious waterways and coastal resources as a community.”
Because volunteers not only remove trash, but also keep track of the items they remove, the data each year has revealed a great deal about the extent and nature of the marine debris problem over time, officials said.
Based on past cleanup data, 75 percent of the debris that volunteers removed was composed of plastic, a material that never completely biodegrades and has numerous harmful consequences in the environment. The data also shows that up to 80 percent of the trash on the California coast originates on land, so volunteers across the state helped prevent enormous amounts of trash from ever reaching the ocean, no matter where they participated.
As of Monday, 220,861 pounds of trash was recovered, along with 29,702 pounds of recyclable materials, for a total of 250,563 pounds or 125 tons.
While plastic cups, straws, bottles, soda cans, candy wrappers, and cigarette butts are typical items picked up by volunteers, a number of “unusual” items were also removed during this year’s cleanup. The Coastal Commission announced two winners of the 2022 Most Unusual Item contest, which included a trophy with a plaque that read “Best Couples Skater 2006,” which was picked up by a Colusa River Cleanup volunteer, and a large, framed photo of a Jack Russell Terrier, picked up along the Berkeley shoreline by a Alameda County volunteer.
Diaz said Premier Mushrooms’ ninth Colusa River Cleanup could not have happened without the support of sponsors, including River Partners, T&R Restore, and Recology.
Volunteers included Colusa Girls Scouts, Colusa Boy Scouts, and people of all ages.
Jade Jacobs, of River Partners, participated in her first Colusa River Cleanup on Saturday, although she has participated in the event at other locations in California and Washington.
“It’s about the same everywhere,” Jacobs said, about the type of debris removed at these events. “It’s a lot of garbage bags and pop cans. Events on the river tend to have more cigarette butts, which are also common on the coast.”
Girl Scout Troop 4136 member Lauren Gomez, 10, an Egling Middle School student, also participated in the event for the first time.
“I wanted to clean up the state park and make our community cleaner,” said Gomez, who along with Lola Gutierrez and sisters, Lilah and Madison Sutton, picked up about five bags of trash, along with unusual items, including a broomstick handle and a glow stick.
“We found a lot of glass around the trees,” Gomez said. “It was very hard to pick up because it was stuck in the mud.” ■