Annual July 5 Tahoe beach cleanup nets 500 pounds of trash, 3,495 cigarette butts, 6,515 pieces of plastic
Despite COVID-19 keeping many from Tahoe beaches this season, somehow it didn’t seem to stop the trash from accumulating, but it also didn’t stop Keep Tahoe Blue volunteers from holding their annual beach cleanup.
According to the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s Communications Manager Chris Joseph, the beach clean up kept things smaller this year to make sure social distancing practices were upheld for the safety of volunteers.
“On Sunday, we had 136 volunteers cleanup at 3 sites, Kings Beach, Regan Beach and Nevada Beach, plus a handful of folks cleanup at a couple more remote sites,” said Joseph. “We had fewer participants this year intentionally. With COVID safety concerns in mind, we capped the number of volunteers and required RSVPs to ensure social distancing.”
Despite only mobilizing at half the number of beaches as usual (which generally includes six Tahoe beaches) volunteers were still able to collect nearly 500 pounds of litter.
This included 3,495 cigarette butts and 6,515 pieces of plastic.
“Microtrash was the most pervasive type of litter found during the cleanup,” said Joseph. “Cigarette butts, bottle caps, straws, Styrofoam bits and unidentifiable plastic shards appeared very frequently, just as they have the last few years.”
In 2019, scientists detected microplastic pollution in Lake Tahoe’s famous blue waters for the first time ever.
“With the knowledge that microplastics are present in Lake Tahoe's waters, this data is an important reminder to choose reusables, refuse single-use plastics and pick up plastic litter where you find it,” said Joseph.
While the beach clean ups are an important part of keeping Tahoe blue, it’s the everyday that is the most important to keeping Lake Tahoe pollution free, said Joseph.
“Cleaning up on July 5th is important, but the Lake needs help everyday,” said Joseph. “We’re encouraging everyone to become a “TahoeBlueGooder”, which means taking actions – small and large – to protect the Lake. It could be as simple as riding your bike or picking up litter where you find it, to volunteering with one of the League’s programs.”
Joseph hopes that both local and visitors alike will spread the message far and wide that the Lake needs to be protected, and we are the ones who can help.
“We hope people will help us spread the word that we all need to leave the Lake better than they found it,” said Joseph. “Anyone can share pictures of themselves and others with the hashtag TahoeBlueGooder to get the message out there.”
Fore more information on Keep Tahoe Blue and the League to Save Lake Tahoe, visit http://www.keeptahoeblue.org