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BYO for CCD

The California Coastal Commission is working to make California Coastal Cleanup Day even "greener." What does this mean? The Cleanup brings out tens of thousands of Californians who remove more than a million pounds of debris from our beaches, rivers, creeks, lakes, and waterways - so, the net environmental impact of the event is tremendously positive. However, the event itself has an environmental footprint.

For example, in 2009, Coastal Cleanup Day volunteers used more than 130,000 plastic bags and 135,000 plastic gloves during Coastal Cleanup Day. Countless cleanup sites held barbeques, lunches or snacks for volunteers, and many of these generated additional packaging and food-related waste. Thousands of volunteers drove cars to their cleanup sites around the state.

The Coastal Commission is committed to reducing the environmental footprint of Coastal Cleanup Day, but we need your help to do so! Please join our efforts this year by turning out to the Cleanup with a "Bring Your Own" philosophy. Here's some quick tips on what you can do:

• Bring a bucket or reusable bag to the Cleanup for collecting trash (most Cleanup sites are equipped with dumpsters or roll-away bins so you can dump what you collect and bring your bucket or reusable bag back home).
• Bring a lightweight pair of gardening gloves from home, instead of using the disposable plastic gloves provided at the Cleanup.

  It is estimated that it requires about 10,000 kilograms of oil, or about 67 barrels, in energy and raw material, to produce the amount of plastic bags used during the 2009 California Coastal Cleanup Day.

• Bring a filled, reusable water bottle to the Cleanup.
• Use public transportation, bike, or carpool to your Cleanup.
• If you're bringing a lunch, plan ahead to make it a "trash-free" meal.

If you want to work closely with the Coastal Cleanup Day Program to develop a big BYO idea for your Cleanup, please contact your county coordinator.

For teachers, you can make the BYO philosophy into class project. Assign your students to bring work gloves (if available) and an item from home to use in collecting small to medium sized trash items. (Larger trash items would need to be carried in bags, or hauled separately.) Some ideas for containers include:

• Reusable bucket
• Half-gallon milk carton, opened
• Cardboard oatmeal cylinder
• Plastic milk jug with the top cut off
• Plastic 2-liter bottle with the top cut off
• Reused plastic shopping bags

As containers are filled, dump them into a central collection site, such as a dumpster, trash can, or large trash bag. The containers can be recycled after the cleanup, or you can continue to reuse them by providing your students with potting soil and seeds or seedlings to create a small flower, herb or vegetable planter. Be sure to punch holes in the bottom first.

We're interested in hearing other ideas you may have to reduce waste on Coastal Cleanup Day. Please send your suggestions to coast4u@coastal.ca.gov, or join our Facebook discussion. The best ones will be posted here as the summer progresses, and we all prepare for the best, and least wasteful, Coastal Cleanup Day ever!

	BYO Ideas and Success Stories
	Save Our Shores, the Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties Coastal Cleanup Day coordinator, received bucket donations from a number of local restaurants.
	ECOSLO, the San Luis Obispo County Coastal Cleanup Day coordinator, secured a donation from Home Depot for 250, 5-gallon buckets for use on the beach.
	Richardson Bay Audubon Center & Sanctuary, San Francisco coordinator of the 2009 Kids Ocean Day Cleanup, had students bring recycled containers, such as empty milk jugs, for collecting trash. After the event, they provided the students with wildflower seeds to plant in the empty containers.
	Ian Butler, Pacifica: I have been doing a beach cleanup once a week for 3 years now, and recently I switched from plastic bags to burlap sacks. I ordered them on line for 50 cents each and they are great for beach cleanups; they're biodegradable, reusable, and any water or sand drains out as I walk. I highly recommend them as an alternative to plastic.