In celebration of Earth Day Friday, one nonprofit focused its efforts on a beach cleanup at Pirate’s Cove in Avila Beach.
“Earth Day is a celebration of planet earth. A celebration of this place we collectively call home and it is our responsibility as humans to take care of," said Executive Director of ECOSLO, Mary Ciesinski.
A job that about 35 volunteers felt they needed to be a part of on this special day, marching along trails and searching through bushes looking for one thing...trash.
“Cigarette butts that’s a big thing, lots of alcohol bottles and cans we’re finding it here or just general water bottles. You name it we are finding it here," said ECOSLO AmeriCorps member, Allie Wright.
At this specific cleanup, glass bottles and aluminum cans were a big part of what was collected filling up multiple bags. Over 165 pounds of trash were picked up by volunteers.
“It was just really shocking to see how much trash and recyclable items we found just on a normal day," said Cal Poly student Kery Fung.
Volunteers say it’s an easy opportunity to give back to mother nature and keep beaches clean for future generations.
“Well it’s really simple we think we are just doing something good and feels good to do it," said Ed Gravell from Nipomo.
ECOSLO says they work on having beach cleanups throughout the year, in hopes of keeping areas like Pirate’s Cove clean and protected. The organization is also planning on planting 20 trees on May 7th in the city of San Luis Obispo as part of a community program to combat climate change.
