JERSEY SHORE – Despite the cold and rainy weather, hundreds of volunteers hit the beach to pick up litter or harmful debris found at the Jersey shore.
The bi-annual initiative is a part of Clean Ocean Action’s (COA) Beach Sweeps, which celebrated their 40th Beach Sweeps on April 12.
Clean Ocean Action is a leading national and regional voice working to protect waterways using science, law, research, education and citizen action. Their Beach Sweeps are held every April and October and are the state’s largest volunteer driven, citizen science and environmental event.
The goal of the Beach Sweeps is to make beaches safer for marine life and more enjoyable for people. Volunteers strive for difference in the community while joining in on the beachy-clean fun. Unlike other cleanups, volunteers keep record of each piece of debris on COA’s data card.
Collected data is monitored for trends and analyzed so COA can work on advocating for new laws and policies for a positive change.
In Brick Township, they had a great turn out across Brick Beach 1 and Windward Beach Park even with the unwelcomed rainfall.
“I almost feel better when the weather is poor because that means people really want to come out,” said Raymond LeChien, member of the Brick Township Environmental Commission who led the cleanup at Windward Beach Park. “It’s always incredible. Even with the weather or even with the time, people will come out, no matter what – smile on their face, they’re ready to pick up trash and do a lot of good work.”
Windward Beach Park, which lies along the Metedeconk River, tends to have different garbage wash up on its shores compared to ocean beaches due to its location.
“Since it’s along the river, it’d be a lot of smaller stuff, not just park garbage, but even just stuff that’ll come in from the river. Whereas the ocean, it not only tends to be bigger stuff, but it also tends to be newer stuff, so it could be something that washed up just last night. You could clean it last weekend and have something brand new and huge this weekend,” LeChien said.
LeChien noted that the number one item that litters the beaches are microplastics, a popular item being bottle caps.
“Since the ban in May 2022, we’ve definitely seen nearly no plastic bags. Of course, still some, but they’ve gone down a lot,” LeChien said. “It’s mostly microplastics, so everything from bottle caps to just pieces of things.”
Other key Beach Sweep locations throughout Ocean County were Island Beach State Park, located on the Barnegat Peninsula in Berkeley Township, which is home to a diverse array of wildlife. On Long Beach Island, a clean-up was held in Surf City on in partnership with Alliance for a Living Ocean.
At Seaside Heights, Junior Beach Captains from The Marine Academy of Technology & Environmental Science (MATES) took charge, successfully checking in over 80 volunteers for an efficient and impactful cleanup.
In Monmouth County, Sandy Hook welcomed about 150 volunteers to its site which runs a little different than other Beach Sweep sites.
“We have students from MAST (Marine Academy of Science & Technology) who volunteer as the beach captains for Sandy Hook,” said Meg Sulzberg, COA Plastic Free Sea Coordinator who attended the Sandy Hook Sweeps.
In 2024, 6,835 volunteers collected a total of 276, 899 items – with 83% of debris collected was made of plastic. Plastic food and shopping bags reached its lowest-ever recorded level, accounting for just 1% of the total debris collected in 2024.
Some unique items which made their made onto the “Roster of the Ridiculous” included a whole watermelon, pool noodle, baseball bat, and a rubber ducky.
“The hard work of our remarkable Beach Sweeps volunteers and captains shows, unfortunately, that people tend to be litterbugs. The more single use items that become available and are used, the more they washup on our beaches. However, when we pass laws and ordinances and implement restrictions on these items, we see less on the beaches,” said Cindy Zipf, COA Executive Director. “These trends can be seen over time.”
Currently, COA is focusing on several legislative efforts, including the Packaging Product Stewardship Act which takes action to reduce plastics and packaging.
“By informing themselves, signing petitions, and making calls to elected officials, volunteers can take their action to the next level to help reduce pollution,” said Toni Groet, South Jersey Coordinator.
To learn more about Clean Ocean Action and the Beach Sweeps, visit cleanoceanaction.org.
