BERKELEY – A small group of volunteers gathered together on an early Saturday morning to clean up what others left behind at Dudley Park.
“This is our fall beach sweep,” said Beth Collis. She read off a list of things they find: McDonald’s breakfast containers, vaping material, candy wrappers, hair ties, Gatorade bottles and “a lot of beer cans.”
Another common find were the tiny, easily concealable bottles of liquor. These were probably done in one shot and then tossed.
From the woods, someone would shout out “another 2-ounce Fireball!”
They suspect that teens are drinking here at night. That would make sense given that volunteer Bill McGrath found an open case of beer with a bunch of unopened cans. The police probably came by and the kids had to ditch their drinks.
Some finds are odd, like those little black plastic spider rings. Most are disgusting, like underwear, full diapers and full dog poop bags.
This beach sweep is overseen by Clean Ocean Action. They do two beach sweeps a year. This group also does one in the South Seaside Park section of town, over the bridge. Additionally, there’s a Barnegat Bay Blitz that’s done at the end of the season, usually in the lagoon sections of town.
The names “Clean Ocean Action” and “Barnegat Bay Blitz” might not make you think of Dudley Park, which is pretty far inland, or neighborhoods like Berkeley Shores. However, the waterways are all connected. A Styrofoam cup dropped at the beach in Dudley Park doesn’t stay at the beach. Over time, parts of it travels downstream to the Barnegat Bay and Atlantic Ocean. That’s why cleaning up local parks is so important.
