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Summertime is beach time. Warm weather and swelling tides bring people to our nation’s beaches in droves, and unfortunately, they often leave without everything they brought. Literal mountains of trash are left or wash up on beaches every year, creating unsightly hazards to seasonal beachgoers and the local wildlife that rely on clean waters and sands to live. Birds, turtles, crabs, fish and virtually all forms of marine life suffer when plastics, fishing line and an almost unlimited amount of types of trash litter a shoreline. Although the amount of trash can seem overwhelming, the solution can start with you. The next time you spend a day on the beach (or anywhere around the water for that matter), take a moment to leave your mark by taking someone else’s trash away with you. Just think what could happen if everyone applied that simple effort! Do remember to be careful when you are doing your good deed. Some trash can be hazardous to your health. Old fishing line, cans, plastic bottles are all pretty safe, but sometime a ball of old line can have an even older rusty fish hook buried in it. There are plenty of sharp, jagged and rusty pieces of refuse, and it is always best to leave those for city or county clean-up crews. Do not put yourself in danger, even if it is for a good cause. When you are putting together your beach bag for your next visit to the coast, bring a heavy-duty trash bag for you (and your family) to bring home some trash and leave the beach cleaner than you found it.
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