Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Eleven volunteers turned out for the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) annual Beach-Clean-up on Saturday, June 17.
“Most of what we collected today is styrofoam, which is used for floats. That's obviously washed up on the beach, which is great to get off because it breaks up. We got a whole truckload full of styrofoam. We've also picked up a lot of the little black plastic trays they use on the oyster farms, tires with styrofoam in them, a few buoys and then just some sort of trash, but mainly styrofoam,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI
“We've been cleaning up the beach on both sides of Hollyhock right round the southern tip and towards Seascape. This is a beach that gets hit by the southeastern storms that come in the winter. Lots of stuff collects on the beach.”
We were standing in front of an overfull pick-up truck, with extended walls. There were still garbage bags of debris, and piles of aquaculture trash waiting on the ground.
Cortes Currents asked, “Do you have any idea how much debris was picked up?”
“Just looking at it now, about two big truckloads,” replied Hall.
The volunteers split into three groups and combed the beach in an hour and a half.
Someone from the central group, whose area stretched north from Hollyhock, said, “My sense is that the beach was remarkably litter free. We probably found everything that wasn't nailed down, or tied down and cemented in by sand and rocks.”
Hall explained, “What's interesting is we haven't been picking up a lot off the beach. People who walk the beach regularly have been collecting the garbage and putting it into piles. That's really helpful, we've really been collecting their piles off the beach. I was talking to one person here who does that, and she said, 'I put it in a pile because I don’t know what to do with it.’”
Comox Valley Waste Management left a large bin on Cortes Island to be used for the beach clean-up and a Klahoose First Nation project.
“We're getting it off the island and recycled, which is great news,” said Hall.
After the clean-up, FOCI’s volunteers gathered on the beach below Hollyhock for refreshments.
The lady from the central group said, “It’s a joyous group to be a part of. We're sitting here enjoying exchanges and drinks from Hollyhock; kamboucha, and the great weather.”
Hall added, “It was nice to have the community coming out to clean the beach and we're going to be doing more of this next year.”
Comox Valley Waste Management may leave a bin over the winter next year. There was also talk of extending FOCI’s beach clean-up to more remote areas that can only be accessed by water.
