The Save Our Shores July 4th “Pollution Prevention is Patriotic” efforts dramatically decreased the amount of trash left behind on Santa Cruz County beaches after the fun and often rowdy July 4th celebrations. 

SOS staff and volunteers launched a widespread awareness and pollution prevention campaign leading up to this year’s Independence Day holiday that helped celebrators at the beach ensure that their party didn’t leave a big mess.  Last year on July 5th 40,000 pounds of trash were hauled off of seven Santa Cruz Beaches, but this year the total amount of trash generated on the July 4th was only 15,000 pounds! 

SOS has been involved in July 5th beach cleanups in Santa Cruz County for over 10 years and is excited to see this year’s pollution prevention efforts make a real impact.

Save Our Shores partnered with the Clean Beaches Coalition partners Surfrider, Pack Your Trash, Ecology Action and O’Neill Sea Odyssey to cover seven of the county’s most impacted beaches. Beaches included Santa Cruz Main Beach, Seabright, Twin Lakes, New Brighton, Seacliff, Rio Del Mar and Manresa State Beaches.

Approximately 1,500 garbage and recycle bags were distributed to beach goers on July 4th through education and pollution prevention efforts in the Aptos parade and at our local beaches.  Volunteers walked the beaches, approaching groups of celebrators to offer extra garbage and recycle bags and share information about where to dispose of your trash and what items are recyclable in Santa Cruz County.

282 volunteers turned out at local beaches early this morning to survey the impact of our efforts last night.  Overall, the beaches were much cleaner than normal for the 5th of July.  Of the total 15,000 pounds of trash left at county beaches this year, our volunteers collected over 2,000 pounds of trash and 857 pounds of recycling, in comparison to over 5,000 pounds collected last year.

“The spirits were really high at the beach this morning.  We were expecting to find the typical devastation of our local beaches, but were instead excited to find that most folks cleaned up after themselves last night and our beaches actually looked pretty good,” said Laura Kasa, Executive Director of SOS.

SOS also launched a massive media campaign leading up to the holiday weekend this year.  PSAs were played on local cable and radio stations for several weeks prior to the holiday.  Radio interviews and ads taken out in local print media also helped out.  The “Pollution Prevention is Patriotic” message focused on reminding folks to “Pack Your Trash” but also encouraged ways to reduce overall consumption of disposable materials and participation in the morning after beach cleanups.

 Marine debris is one of the top threats to our oceans today.  It is a problem of global concern, which must be acted upon locally.  SOS works to educate the public about the impacts of marine debris on our ocean ecosystems and human health and to provide tools for people to get involved.