Nearly 20K pounds of waste collected during coastal cleanup

More than 3,800 volunteers took part in the 30th annual Coastal Cleanup Day. The non-profit organization Save Our Shores focused on more than 80 sites, including Sand City Beach.

Save Our Shores said Sand City Beach is one of the ten places recognized as a problem site.

Earlier this year, the organization identified the area as one of the “top ten hot spots,” demonstrating the greatest need for cleanup efforts. It sits between two state beaches, so a lot of trash drifts in.

Locals said with the current, the waste washes up into the city.

Volunteers filled dozens of bags and buckets Saturday.

“I loved it, and I was surprised by everybody out here,” said Destiny Quitevis, a volunteer. “There were lot of kids with parents out here.”

For the first time, the annual cleanup hit all of the Central Coast’s top ten “problem sites” in addition to 73 other spots.

In total, the volunteers saved nearly 22,000 pounds of waste from entering Monterey Bay. That’s 5,000 pounds more than last year.

Save Our Shores uses data collected from the cleanup to analyze the overall health of the beaches and identify problem sites.

Some of the strangest items found Saturday include a Christmas tree, 15 anti-freeze containers, syringes, and the bow of a shipwrecked boat.