A champagne cork. Seven packets of condiments. Two tampon applicators. A full unopened can of Corona Extra and an empty Modelo bottle stripped of its label. Two balloon fragments with strings attached. Seven straws, two of which were from Dunkin’. A partial tube of Blistex, a plastic spoon, bits of fishing line, plastic bags. A used condom — gross! Styrofoam cup pieces. Plastic bottle caps in every color. A scrap of mail bearing a Hartford, Conn., address.
Waterlogged, sand-covered, and sunwashed, this is what made up 10 pounds of trash picked up by a reporter at Ditch Plain in Montauk over the course of two hours in a mile-long stretch of beach around marker number 38 on Saturday morning — to the surprise of absolutely no one, really. It’s simply par for the course, according to advocates who are leading litter pickup efforts across East Hampton Town.
“Litter is one of the top culprits of complaints on the beaches, the downtown business districts, and roadways, every season,” said East Hampton Town Councilman David Lys, who chairs the town’s beach advisory committee. “The beach trash we’ve seen specifically in the last two weeks has increased with the amount of seaweed and flooding we’ve seen. A lot of flotsam came over from Connecticut, floating onto our beaches, bays, and oceans.”
Even with weekly cleanups using beach-rake equipment, Mr. Lys said it’s hard to keep up with the pace at which people discard things. “We have to send out more staff and ask for volunteer help to pick up the trash,” he said.
In particular, Ditch Plain “has been difficult to get to in the last couple weeks until we had a southwest swell that pushed a lot of sand up,” Mr. Lys said. “We can’t bring our beach rakes onto the beach when it’s all stones — they would break.”
But it’s not just Montauk, he said — it’s pretty much the same along every stretch of shoreline in town.
Christine Ganitsch, a chairperson of the East Hampton Town Litter Action Committee, made a distinction between “marine trash” washing up from boats and the types of things discarded by beachgoers. “A lot of it is from boats, so that brings a whole other household-item contingent that washes up. . . . On Napeague, there was a case of cake mix that washed up.”
She also sees social trends reflected in what’s washing up. For instance, with regard to alcoholic beverage containers, she said, “Corona does remain ‘king.’ Modelo is second. Bud Light isn’t all that common anymore, but we see hard seltzer cans, White Claw.”
And, she said, “I never knew there were that many colors of tampon applicators. It really is interesting.”
Tied to the marine and beach-trash issue is concern over huge, floating islands of trash farther out in the oceans. National Geographic has reported on a massive one in the North Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, closer to home, an organization called the World Counts has documented one in the northern regions of the Atlantic Ocean: “It is not as big or as popular as the Texas-sized Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but it poses the same health risk to animals, birds, other marine mammals and us. . . . It’s a collection of our trash such as abandoned fishing gears, bottle caps, toothbrushes, plastic bags and so on.”
What wasn’t in that haul collected at Ditch Plain? Cigarette butts, which is what the National Ocean Service says is the most common form of beach trash.
But about those plastics. The Ocean Blue Project, an Oregon nonprofit, estimates that worldwide about eight million tons of plastics are floating in the oceans, and none of it will break down on its own anytime soon.
On Saturday, while this reporter was scouring Ditch Plain, the Concerned Citizens of Montauk held a beach cleanup for kids at Kirk Park. Jaime LeDuc, C.C.O.M.’s director of environmental advocacy, said the focus was on removing plastics, which break down into tiny particles that, when ingested, “block the digestive system of animals and result in low levels of oxygen and consequently result in reduced energy levels.”
“Some plastics” — called microplastics — “are so tiny that they embed in the animal tissues. They are passed across the food chain, and some find their way to humans,” Ms. LeDuc said.
Meanwhile, over at Ditch Plain, another volunteer trash collector had hauled a car’s bumper from the beach to the town’s trash bins in front of the comfort station. “It’s unbelievable,” she said.
What didn’t fit in the bag: a rusted-out ceramic bathroom sink (possibly from a long-gone blufftop house), adorned with a beaded bracelet and bird feather, which may, at that point, have become someone’s art installation.
The trash problem is at a point where the town board is starting to consider removing waste bins from some beaches in order to promote the “take it with you” mentality, Mr. Lys said.
He and Ms. Ganitsch spoke about the most impactful ways to reduce environmental pollution: getting out the message and changing people’s habits.
“It takes board members speaking about it, civic organizations doing something about it, people writing about it to change people’s behaviors,” Mr. Lys said. “Not just taking the time to pack in and pack out, but also volunteering to pick up litter with a community group or your family.”
The Ocean Blue Project does encourage individuals to take the initiative, saying on its website that “beach cleanup projects are like ripples in a pond. They aid in beach restoration. They prevent debris from flowing back into the ocean. They also protect marine life from getting killed due to debris.”
“We can only do what we can do,” Ms. Ganitsch said. “The three things we focus on are ‘don’t toss it,’ ‘secure your loads and trucks,’ and ‘if you see it, pick it up.’ That’s what we can do. Of course there’s the broader concept of not buying things like bottled water. Have a reusable bottle or coffee cup. Those are broader messages we’ll have to work on — habits.”
She encouraged people to use the bright-yellow baskets that the town and a community-based partner, Relic, have set up at certain beaches for litter pickup. They’re stationed near the trash bins so that people can easily deposit what they pick up into a proper receptacle when they’re done.
“It’s ugly to look at. This is our home and I think we get a little resentful that people are throwing stuff around,” Ms. Ganitsch said. “But it’s potentially a public health issue and it harms wildlife. Their point is to get people to think about it. When you’re on the beach and there’s a piece of litter next to you, just pick it up and get rid of it. It may seem minuscule, but every little bit helps, you know?”
This story has been updated since it was first published to include Relic, the town's partner in the beach-basket effort.
