The Marine Life Center is excited to announce a beach clean-up volunteer day on July 23rd! The MLC will provide all volunteers with hand sanitizer, gloves, and plastic bags or buckets. We have a limited number of long handled trash grabbers, which will be sanitized in between uses. If you have these materials at home and would like to bring your own, that is great! We strongly encourage volunteers to wear weather and beach-appropriate clothing, sunscreen, and bring a packed snack and full water bottles.
The MLC’s big beach clean-up will take place at Locust Beach on July 23rd between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and will run with the guidance of Zero Waste Washington to collect data which will be used by the Environmental Protection Agency. This maritime litter collection will follow a more rigorous Escaped Trash Assessment Protocol. The purpose of this collection is to gather data which can be used as a baseline to follow future trends in litter categories and frequency in our area. Zero Waste Washington will help volunteers sort and count each and every piece of litter in a specific area of the beach, so bring your eagle eyes to spot every scrap of plastic and every cigarette butt! The link to join the event is available below.
Is your volunteer group excited to join us? Get in touch via email so we can coordinate with you! marinelifecenter@portofbellingham.com
For those of you that want to stretch your litter collection muscles before this official event, the Marine Life Center encourages you to practice cleaning up areas close to home! Every piece of litter we remove from our local waterways reduces the litter that reaches the ocean. Picking up recycling that is sitting in your local alley or sidewalk makes a huge difference in what reaches the ocean! Want to record what you collect? Use either CleanSwell or Litterati Apps. Watch your impact grow and invite friends to join you! Now that you have collected a variety of trash, what is the best way to dispose of these items? Our local SSC has a thorough FAQ page that gives details for plenty of specific types of litter. When in doubt, throw it out!
You can stay up to date on MLC news on the Port's website or by visiting our Facebook page.
Where: Locust Beach
When: Appointment times range from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Cost: Absolutely free!
Parking & Beach Access: Parking lot for the Locust Beach Trailhead is located on Locust Road, off of Marine Drive. The parking lot holds 8-10 vehicles. The beach is accessed on foot via Trail. 5-10 minute walk from the parking lot.
