Here is a Katherine Scully and her partner Joe pick up trash and debris at Junipero Beach on Oct. 13, 2024 :Photo Credit: Justin Enriquez
Volunteers participated in a beach clean up, clearing away cigarette butts and other trash at Junipero Beach on Oct.13, 2024.
Tory Romero, a recycling specialist working for the City of Long Beach, organized the event giving out gloves, trash pickers and recycled IKea bags.
“We decided to do special events throughout the month teaching about sustainability in various ways through reuse, cleaning up our coast.” Romero said.
The month of October was “Bring Your Own” month, which gave opportunities for residents living in Long Beach to collect stamps by participating in events such as the cigarette beach clean up.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “Cigarette butts are the most common form of marine litter.”
Will and Gloria Bravante, a couple who volunteered at the event, wanted to get into BYO month to contribute to the clean up.
“We go to the beaches around here and you notice how much plastic and trash is washing up…just from a human perspective we want to help clean up and help make it better for ourselves and our neighbors.” said Gloria
Throughout the event volunteers would bring more than 10 pounds of trash and debris filling the city’s blue cans in front of the booth. Trash would range from plastic cups from Starbucks to fishing nets, but one thing that was consistent from the clean up was cigarette butts.
“It’s very important to highlight that this is a toxic piece of trash out there… we want to bring awareness to the city and host these kinds of events.” Romero said
Kids got the opportunity to participate in the event with one of them bringing in a little more than 10 pounds worth of trash at the end of the event.
In the past, Long Beach has placed its reliance on grants because it lacks a way to balance the city’s budget. During the pandemic, the Long Beach Recovery Act helped the city of Long Beach with emergency funding of more than $360 billion given by the Biden administration.
But as those funds are drying up there is now a crisis to fund departments and important ones such as the Health and Human Services Department and the Public Works Department.
And according to the city’s proposed budget for the fiscal year of 2025, it will allocate more than $311 million to the Long Beach Police Department.
The Environmental Services Bureau, part of the Public Works Department, would receive just over $2 million in grants. A portion of this funding provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, would be educational efforts and activities such as the BYO beach clean up event.
And in comparison of salaries of the LBPD and the Public Works Department, more than $250 million is given to the LBPD from the General Fund of the City of Long Beach while the Public Works Department is given $40 million. Other departments have been gutted more such as the Health and Human Services Department receiving just $12 million.
Katherine Scully, an Anthropology professor at Long Beach State, participated at the event. She said the city should have, “dedicated employees to promote initiatives and to help clean up the beaches.”
“At least incentivize people to do it somehow, to get more people.” Scully said.
The Public Works Department has a “ Clean Team” which helps track graffiti, clean debris on sidewalks but there is no mention of beaches.
Written and photographed by Justin Enriquez
