Record number of volunteers dive into Daniel Island beach/riverfront clean-up

Imagine watching a garbage truck dump a load worth of plastic in the water while your child plays at the beach. Another dump truck empties itself on your favorite fishing spot. Loads of trash this size are ending up in our oceans every minute, adding up to eight million tons of refuse in our seas and waterways per year, according to environmental advocacy group plasticoceans.org.

As we humans add to these floating masses of plastics, like one twice the size of Texas currently floating in the Pacific Ocean, the vast resources of the sea are being choked out.

Daniel Island resident Andrea Kelly started picking up garbage along the Wando River near Children’s Park 10 years ago.

“We moved to this beautiful island and I loved to take my kids and dogs down to the little beach,” Kelly said. “As we walked, I was sickened by the amount of trash strewn about-- plastic bags caught up in trees, beer bottles and cans littering the seagrass near the walkways. My kids and I would have our own river clean up as we played.”

Then, six years ago, Kelly decided to expand her efforts by volunteering as the site captain for the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and the Department of Natural Resources. She started heading up “Beach Sweep/River Sweep” events on Daniel Island, like the one held at Children’s Park this past Saturday, October 27.

For Kelly, who owns her own pharmaceutical consulting business but has an undergraduate degree in marine science, this project has become a passion. Each year she works to organize volunteers through social media, local community bulletins and talking with schools and churches. Some of her most helpful and willing participants last weekend were students from Christ Our King – Stella Maris School and Daniel Island’s Saint Clare of Assisi Parish. The kids received community service hours, but many said they wanted to help out anyway.

Daniel Island teen Alexandra Hamilton and her friends collected five large bags of trash along with community service hours.

“This is so important,” she said. “Our oceans are in trouble.”

“In all, more than 60 volunteers came to lend a hand,” noted Kelly. “This is the most participants ever for this event.”

The Daniel Island Property Owners Association provided a dumpster for the hundreds of bags of trash, while local doctor Charles Kelly separated the recyclables from the garbage. The POA also provided pizza and drinks for the volunteers. Tidewater Neurology sent each participant home with a dye-free cotton reusable shopping bag to inspire support for the proposed local plastics ban in Charleston (see side bar).

Dan DiMarzio, youth director for Saint Clare of Assisi, said he was proud of his youth group for taking an interest and working so hard.

“We’re blessed to live in such a beautiful place,” DiMarzio said. “These kids can be leaders in taking care of it.”

WHAT WE CAN DO:

With the scale of the environmental emergency in coastal communities like Charleston, each citizen can make a difference by choosing what they buy, how they dispose of it and then pitching in to clean up.

- Your purchases act as a vote! Choose to reuse shopping bags or bottled drinks. Cloth bags, metal or glass bottles are easier to reuse and recycle.
- Refuse to purchase single-serving, straight to the trash containers like straws and other “disposable” plastics. Carry reusable utensils or bottles in your purse or car.
- Trash free lunch! Set a great example for your kids and their classmates by reducing lunchbox plastics such as sandwich bags and juice cartons by replacing them with a reusable lunch box that includes a water bottle.
- Bring your to-go mug with you to the coffee shop, smoothie shop or restaurants.
- Volunteer at a beach cleanup like the Beach Sweet River Sweep. Surfrider Foundation Chapters often hold cleanups monthly or more frequently.
- Support plastic bag bans, polystyrene foam bans and bottle recycling bills and spread the word.

Source: www.EcoWatch.org

PROPOSED LOCAL PLASTICS BAN

Local leaders in Charleston are now considering a citywide ordinance that would curb plastic pollution. The draft ordinance, which would ban single-use plastic bags and Styrofoam, can be accessed at http://www.charleston-sc.gov/index.aspx?NID=1911.

The city’s Resiliency and Sustainability Advisory Committee is meeting on Thursday, November 1 to review community feedback and decide whether to recommend the city take up the ordinance. According to the Coastal Conservation League, communities that have passed similar ordinances have seen improvement. After passing its ordinance, Folly Beach, for example, saw a nearly 79 percent reduction in single use plastic bag litter.

Emily Cedzo, program director of the of the Coastal Conservation League can be reached at emilyc@scccl.org to discuss the proposed ordinance.