City of San Diego officials are bracing for hundreds of thousands of beachgoers this Fourth of July weekend, and clean water advocates hope they can keep trash out of the ocean.
Pauline Martinson, executive director of I Love A Clean San Diego, said the group is pitching in to help with the cleanup. Officials said trash is often found on San Diego beaches after the national holiday.
“A decade ago if you would come out to the beach beforehand, it was clean,” Martinson said. "After these holiday weekends, it's covered in couches, trash, styrofoam coolers, and just saturated with people’s belongings."
The group is delivering 100 trash and recycling bins to the city’s most popular beaches because the city’s regular garbage infrastructure can get overwhelmed by the crowds.
City crews plan to be out early Monday morning cleaning after the crowds are gone. People ticketed for drinking, smoking or littering during the holiday weekend will be able to avoid steep fines by agreeing to cleanup the beaches on Monday.
Jamie Ledezma, chief deputy city attorney, said the extra help makes a difference.
“Last year alone, we had nearly 60 individuals voluntarily complete the community service hours, which contributed nearly 350 hours of trash pickup in our beach community on the Monday after the Fourth of July,” Ledezma said.
