Aiming for a sunset stroll last week at Pensacola Beach, we stopped at the Park East lot and headed for the dune walkover. Just before entering the boardwalk, my daughter noticed a wooden box mounted adjacent to it. It was the size and shape of a large house-mounted mail slot, and painted turquoise.
We read the printed instructions:
“Help Keep our Beaches Clean!”
- Take a paper bag
- Fill with beach litter
- Dispose in a trash receptacle
Simple enough! We lifted the lid and found a stack of paper sacks, and off we went. We barely set foot on the sand before we landed at our first pile of trash. Two parallel lines dug in the sand indicated what seemed likely an ad-hoc altar for a beach wedding. Unfortunately, they’d left fake flowers everywhere. It appeared to be one of those plastic-flower leis, busted all over. We picked up two dozen flowers and some plastic string, and set off down the beach.
Thankfully, litter was relatively minimal. We found several of the repeat offenders—bottle caps, straws, kids’ plastic beach toys. Being one of the hottest weeks of August and when school was back in session, trash was blessedly minimal. After the big tourist weekends, that’s often not the case. People leave piles of trash, busted beach umbrellas, drink containers, you name it. It is a constant battle to remind visitors and locals alike that the trash they bring in is their responsibility to take out. Monofilament fishing line can stay in the environment for 600 years, and it takes about 450 years for a plastic bottle to biodegrade. In the process of breaking down, plastics slowly contribute to the presence of microplastics in nearly everything. Besides the unsightliness, beach trash or “marine debris” is a huge threat to the health of our wildlife. Our local wildlife sanctuaries can, sadly, share endless stories of birds, turtles, and marine mammals injured or killed due to swallowing or becoming entangled in human trash.
The quiet heroes behind efforts like these trash pickup boxes, borrow bins (to reuse children’s beach toys), and cigarette disposal boxes are members of a local organization called Ocean Hour. Every Saturday, they organize an hour-long cleanup at parks, beaches, and public areas all around Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. They fund and sponsor Boy and Girl Scout service projects like these to keep debris out of our natural areas. The beach box we saw last week was built by an Eagle Scout from Troop 3 in Pensacola, and a Girl Scout from my own Troop 1102 built three borrow bins for her Gold Award project.
Before destruction from Hurricane Sally, Ocean Hour and their volunteers had installed approximately 35 trash bag boxes on Pensacola Beach. The Santa Rosa Island Authority supplies and stocks the boxes, so they stay ready for visitors. Ocean Hour staff hear from members of the community that, like my daughter and me, they decided to do a spontaneous beach cleanup during their walk because of the boxes’ availability. There are currently 12 installed at the beach, all near parking lots with trash containers. Jen Deubler, the project organizer, is currently looking for a Scout or other volunteer group to build several more, so contact her at volunteer@oceanhourfl.com if you’re interested. When you see boxes like these, be sure to point them out to the folks you’re with, do your part to put trash in the right place, and keep the debris out of our waterways!
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