Rain Man Storms The Beach

Picking up trash is one thing. Obsessively counting each item is quite another:

Most people don’t look forward to walking barefoot along a Queens beach because they know that hidden in the warm sand are various discarded items, like straws and stirrers that poke their soles or shards of glass that cut their toes.

They probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that during the 2007 New York Beach Cleanup, 1,018 volunteers collected 21,000 pounds of debris from 24 Queens beaches.

As part of the annual International Coastal Cleanup, people set out to their local beaches to pick up and sort through trash, documenting along the way each item they found.

“It’s mainly a consciousness raising effort,” said Barbara Toborg of Broad Channel, a member of the American Littoral Society’s Northeast Chapter. “If you just stuff garbage in a bag, you’re not really paying too much attention, but categorizing specific items leaves an impression, especially on kids, who are great at that kind of thing.”

. . .

The Queens volunteers noted their most unusual findings, which included a fire hydrant cover, tires, sewer pipes, car axle and bowling pins. The more common findings, although less exciting to document, reminded volunteers how important it is to respect the environment, Toborg said. One group found dead fish and crabs entangled in plastic bags — something Toborg often sees during local beach cleanups.

“A lot of people you see just throw things down on the street without any regard. They don’t even realize what they’re doing,” she said. But this changes if they see the consequences of their actions, like a bird trapped in a six-pack ring holder, or a sea mammal entwined with a fishing line.

Making up the majority of debris in Queens’ beaches were household items: volunteers collected nearly 4,000 paper or plastic bags, more than 4,700 food wrappers and containers, and about 5,500 caps and lids. Topping the list at 8,677 were beverage cans and bottles, plastic and glass.

Meanwhile, a purpose appears to rise to the top:

Across the entire state, volunteers collected 56,756 beverage containers, two-thirds of which are not included in the state’s bottle deposit law. To reduce the number of discarded bottles and cans, Toborg and the Northeast Chapter are advocating for legislation that would expand the five-cent deposit to containers that hold non-carbonated beverages.

The “Bigger Better Bottle Bill” has been stalled in the state Senate, Toborg said, but the annual beach cleanup is helping to spread awareness and garner support for the legislation. Earlier this week, the Northeast Chapter was joined by local surfers and other supporters in Albany, where they rallied for the bill.

Ah, the beverage company lobby. I hate those guys.