Local Earth Day 2022 beach cleanup sets records

2,100 pounds of debris removed

This was our first year loaning out 

wood-framed sand sieves, which were 

popular with families with small children 

for recovering microplastic debris.

On April 23, in honor of Earth Day, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center held our biggest beach cleanup ever, setting several records. Our sponsors included the Port Townsend Food Co-Op, Olympic Disposal, and the Washington State Department of Ecology, which provided funding.
The afternoon was sunny and cool. At 1 p.m., 134 volunteers began arriving. They continued to show up throughout the day, full of enthusiasm, with some joining the effort just an hour before our 5 p.m. wrap-up. Some people could only spare an hour; others spent the entire afternoon walking the beaches, crawling over rocks, and scrambling up and down banks.

They came singly and in teams, including children and senior citizens, high school and college students, families with toddlers, and groups from civic organizations. We loaned out work gloves, bags, and pickup sticks. This year we included mesh sand sieves for the first time, which allowed volunteers to isolate microplastics—an activity especially popular with families including young children. 

In the past, cleanup registration has been at Fort Worden State Park, and volunteers have been sent to a couple of spots in Port Townsend. For Earth Day 2022, people spread out over five official cleanup sites, each with its own registration station, located at:

• 

  Everyone returned with interesting items and a smile.
  Who knew picking up trash could be such a delightful task.

  Cape George Colony Beach
• Fort Worden State Park
• Downtown Port Townsend
• Indian Island County Park
• Shine Tidelands State Park

In addition:

• The Jefferson County Trash Task Force cleaned up Flagler Road along the entire length of Indian Island.
• A group of homeowners hauled in debris from their private beaches on the far side of the Hood Canal Bridge.
• Two teams scoured several miles of beach in the remote locations of the southern tip of Marrowstone Island and at Hood Head.
• Volunteers brought in debris from an unofficial cleanup at North Beach.

All this activity made for a grand total of 10 areas cleaned up.

What Did We Find? What Didn’t We Find!?

I arrived for my afternoon shift prepared to help volunteers weigh their hauls and sort their items for recycling, reuse or the dumpster. There were only a few bags and loose items piled in one corner of the gargantuan dumpster at 2 p.m.

Soon people began arriving and dumping out their reusable trash bags. We used a luggage scale and found most loads in the range of 1.5 to 5 pounds.

I didn’t think we’d be able to fill up the gargantuan
dumpster in a mere four hours, but I was wrong!

Then the first big load arrived, 125 pounds of debris from North Beach, brought to us in the back of an SUV because it didn’t fit into the cans provided there. Then a pickup truck arrived, and then another, both brimming over with several hundred pounds of debris. Word came that two more trucks were expected. In between unloading the trucks, more volunteers arrived with their reusable trash bags.

They dragged back everything from microplastics and aluminum cans to old tires, lost traffic cones and wayward construction materials. An entire fiberglass dinghy, rolled up carpet remnants and throw rugs, a three-legged plastic chair and PVC pipes of all sizes ended up in the dumpster. In went hoses, golf balls, scraps of fishing gear, buckets, shattered ceramic dishes, tile, plastic food wrappers, pieces of foam and many lengths of weathered lumber—complete with rusty nails sticking out!

Trash hauled off the beach came in by the
truckload in the late afternoon. 

Beside the dumpster we piled a couple dozen plastic shellfish grow bags, which we hope to return to their owners. Volunteers took home several of the dozen-or-so styrofoam crab pot buoys to use as space-fillers under the dirt layer of large pots for plants. Everyone was enthusiastic about saving the collection bags, which were repurposed from originally holding bird seed or agricultural materials.

For those who were interested in a detailed analysis, a printed form helped us tally their takes. A 5-year-old volunteer named Ellie and I dumped out her small bag of trash, and she carefully counted out microplastics (20 pieces), bottle caps (3), straws (1), rope (1), bottles (1), pen-cap (1), and cans (1). Like everyone else who helped out on our Earth Day cleanup, Ellie took great pride and pleasure in her work that day.

PVC pipe, buckets, and hoses were also
common in the debris recovered.

Olympic Disposal, who generously donated their services, recorded a final whopping 2,100 pounds of debris removed!

My spirits were uplifted for days afterwards. I can’t wait to do dumpster duty again in September, when we’ll participate in International Coastal Cleanup Day. I hope you can join us, stay tuned for the date by checking out our Coastal Cleanups webpage here.

By Jenna Kinghorn, PTMSC Volunteer

Elio Wentzel awarded Anne Murphy Ocean Stewards Scholarship

High school senior to attend Yale University

Elio Wentzel, recipient of the
2022 Anne Murphy Ocean Stewards Scholarship.

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center announces that Elio Wentzel has been awarded the 2022 Anne Murphy Ocean Stewards Scholarship. The $1,500 scholarship will help Wentzel (who uses they/them/their pronouns) in their study of foreign languages and architecture, interconnected by environmental studies, at Yale University.

"We are thrilled to be able to help this exceptional young person take their passion for the Salish Sea out into the world and make a difference," said PTMSC Executive Director Bee Redfield.

“Throughout my entire life, my wonder for the natural world has driven my passion for protecting it,” Wentzel said. “Linguistics provides me with a precise approach to studying language and, in turn, humanity. These ideas of communication connect to an interdisciplinary approach to environmental studies.

“Architecture can be a conduit for environmental policy, serving my passions for math and design while allowing me to make a real impact in people’s lives as I endeavor to make spaces that are intentionally equitable and accessible, as well as beautiful,” they said.

As a youth, Wentzel attended the PTMSC’s Junior Explorers summer camp. In high school, they participated in the Students for Sustainability (SFS) and Youth Environmental Stewards (YES) clubs. SFS was instrumental in the passage of the city council’s ordinance to ban plastic straws – a source of marine pollution – that was enacted in January 2021.

“I have conducted regular beach clean-ups for the Salish Sea and been a student representative with our local chapter of the Sierra Club, which often discusses action items to help solve marine environment injuries,” Wentzel said.

“Another issue close to my heart is sustainable farming and food production practices, which also affect our sea and other nearby environments. Through YES, I leaned into the education portion of activism, volunteering my time to create a Fort Worden plant guide full of photography and easily accessible information,” they said.

Laura Tucker, mentor to the Students for Sustainability, says "It’s students like Elio that are going to change this world for the better."

About the Anne Murphy Ocean Stewardship Scholarship

The PTMSC awards the Anne Murphy Ocean Stewardship Scholarship annually to an East Jefferson County student or graduate who embodies the values that Murphy demonstrated in her 24 years as the organization’s executive director: curiosity, wonder and love of the marine environment.