A group of socially-minded school kids participated in a post-Independence Day cleanup effort at Pacific Beach on Thursday. KPBS reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.
More than 100 students from San Diego's Mann School of Expedition stuffed plastic bags with all kinds of junk. The school's theme is social action, so teachers say the cleanup effort was a perfect fit.
Thirteen-year-old Alvaro Garcia was surprised at what he found.
Garcia : Well I found a whole bunch of cigarettes. People smoke a lot. We found bread, plants, plastic. And we found actually, a sock.
The students spent two hours picking up trash. They handed over hundreds of bags to San Diego's Surfrider Foundation officials like Bill Hickman.
Hickman : Having the kids see how bad it can be, hopefully it will inspire them to help clean it up.
Hickman says about 150 tons of trash was leftover at local beaches.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.
