Cleanup Day 2008 Announcement

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Upper Newport Bay Cleanup Day 2008

When: Saturday, September 20, 2008, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Where: Cleanup Headquarters - Interpretive Center.

Please join us in removing trash from in and around the Bay. Come to the Cleanup Headquarters and Main Registration Point at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center, 2301 University Drive, on the corner of Irvine Avenue and University Drive in Newport Beach. See Map. Shuttle service is provided to other areas of the Bay. Volunteers receive free lunch served at the Interpretive Center. Individuals, families and groups are all welcome. Wear old clothes and shoes. For more information and group assignments, call Candice McIntyre at (949) 923-2295.

On-The-Water Cleanup is organized out of the Back Bay Science Center (BBSC). See Map. Please call Robin Madrid at (949) 640-9956 for more information. Lunch served at BBSC for Water Cleanup participants.

Please bring a reusable/refillable water bottle so we can reduce our plastic use.

All participants are required to sign a waiver. For those under 18, a parent or guardian must sign. To speed registration, please download and print flyer/waiver and bring the completed and signed waiver with you. Unless otherwise arranged, show reporting location as the Interpretive Center.

We are pleased that once again this year the Irvine office of eWaste is a Cleanup Day sponsor. They will have a collection truck in the Interpretive Center parking lot from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm accepting all your electronic waste. You can drop off at no charge computers, computer monitors, printers, fax machines, scanners, paper shredders, copy machines, televisions, radios, microwave ovens, stereo system components e.g. turntables, amplifiers, audio and video cassette recorders, compact disc/DVD players, speakers, camcorders, cameras, telephones (including cell phones), electric typewriters, printed circuit boards, batteries, cables, UPS systems, calculators, servers, routers and electronic components. If the parking lot is full when you get there, advise the Ranger at the entrance that you have an eWaste drop off and you will be let through.

Properly disposing of your old/obsolete equipment is not only environmentally responsible; it is fast becoming a mandate. eWaste recycles all types of computer-related electronics using a process that complies with all regulations and laws concerning hazardous waste. If you are not able to drop items off on September 20, call eWaste at 800-828-2113 to schedule a pick-up or use the contact form on their website.

Cleanup Day is an international event where thousands of volunteers pick up trash in coastal areas and record what they find on data cards designed by the Center for Marine Conservation (CMC). They have been collecting this data since 1986. The CMC analyzes the data collected on these cards and uses it in reports for testimony on Capital Hill and at the International Maritime Organization meetings in London. These reports help them figure out how certain types of trash should be handled by ships at sea and at ports around the world.

Our goal for Cleanup Day at Upper Newport Bay is not only to pick up every piece of trash we can reach, but also to educate the public on the Bay’s watershed. People are often surprised to find out that there are eight cities within this watershed including Newport Beach, Irvine, Tustin, Orange, Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Costa Mesa, and Santa Ana. And that everything within this 154 square mile watershed gets washed right into the Bay.

One of the cleanup crews arrives back at the Shellmaker dock.

Even more surprising to many is what we find out here. In 2002 County Ranger Grace Yick used the information collected on CMC data cards volunteers filled out from previous Cleanup Days to put together some interesting lists. Some of the most common items found in the Bay are: foam/plastic packaging material, 2-liter plastic bottles, tennis balls, cigarette butts, Styrofoam, fast food cups, and planter pots. But that’s not all. Over the years we’ve collected some interesting and rather unusual items: tires, shopping carts, clothes, strollers, tennis rackets, sofas, automobile engines, prison shirts, boogie boards, syringes, street signs, ladders, a golf club, bowling ball, cable box, 9' tall Christmas tree, beer bottle with dead rat inside, ballet slipper, dead goldfish in bag, stereo speaker, half of a bicycle, violin case, blue U.S. Postal mailbox, and the famous "Jack the Rat" in his coffin.