Coastal Cleanup Volunteers Make Their Mark

This morning thousands of Bay Area volunteers headed to local  shorelines, beaches and inland waterways as part of the 28th annual  California Coastal Cleanup.
    This year at sites throughout all Bay Area counties volunteers  picked up trash, recyclables and other debris between 9 a.m. and noon for the  annual community service day.
    The California Coastal Commission, which heads the statewide  cleanup effort, recorded more than 1.3 million pounds of debris collected  from all counties in 2011.
    Environmental advocacy group Save The Bay was at the Damon Slough  in Oakland throughout the morning, and had collected 81 bags of trash and  seven bags filled with discarded recyclables by the end of the workday,  according to Save The Bay spokeswoman Vanessa Barrington.
    Oakland Mayor Jean Quan stopped by the shoreline at one point,  Barrington said, and joined about 70 other volunteers, including some local  firefighters, who found some odd items as they cleaned the litter-strewn  shore.
    Aside from an abundance of Styrofoam and fireworks debris,  Barrington said volunteers picked up a toaster oven and an empty wallet. The  strangest find in the waterway was a big wheel, Barrington said.
    Save The Bay also hosted a cleanup site in San Jose at the  Guadalupe River Trail. More than 100 volunteers there collected 90 bags of  trash and debris, Barrington said.
    Barrington noted volunteers found a discarded Santa Claus  Christmas decoration -- hailed as the strangest find of the day.
    Other cleanups planned throughout the Bay Area today included 80  sites throughout Santa Cruz and Monterey counties organized by ocean advocacy  group Save our Shores.
    In other parts of the region, East Bay Regional Park District had  volunteers come out to the districts many parks found in Livermore, Hayward,  Oakland, Alameda, Richmond, Martinez and elsewhere.
    For more information about Coastal Cleanup Day, visit  www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html.