Beach cleanup
Volunteers turn out to pick up litter after holiday weekend crowds left behind a mess that shocked residents, officials
By Edward Fennell
FOLLY BEACH — Many of the volunteers who turned out Thursday to help clean up the beach felt a duty to make amends for the way it was treated over the Fourth of July weekend.
"We enjoy the beach all year long, and this is a good way to give something back," Pastor Tom Brown of James Island Baptist Church said as he picked up cigarette butts, cellophane wrappers and other small bits of refuse from the sand.
The Post and Courier
South Carolina Aquarium staffers Kelly Thorvalson (from front to back), Megan Westmeyer and Emily Preston, pushing 11-month old daughter Maleah, did their monthly cleanup along Folly Beach on Thursday. For the first time, volunteers from the community (background) helped.
Mayor Carl Beckmann Jr. said more than 90 percent of the litter picked up by the city earlier this week was alcohol-related, but he's no longer considering asking City Council to ban alcohol consumption on the beach. He said such a ban wouldn't solve the problem but would hurt the people who live here.
Stricter enforcement of litter and underage drinking laws might be what the city must do, he said.
Folly is the area's only beach that allows alcohol drinking — from cups but not cans or bottles — on the sand. The council meets July 28 but may also hold a council workshop before then to discuss the litter issue, Beckmann said.
Brown was among about 30 people who turned out for the regularly scheduled beach cleanup organized by the South Carolina Aquarium. The aquarium staff mounts a cleanup all year from the 6th Street West beach access. The cleanup was the first in which volunteers from outside the organization were invited to take part, and comes on the heels of an excessive amount of littering on the beach during the holiday weekend.
Chad Kuhar of Folly Beach was among island residents who turned out. "Living here, I want to be part of the solution," he said.
Brown said a church visitor from Indiana, Marsha Kline, inspired him to enlist youths from the church and to come out himself after learning about the litter the city and other volunteers cleaned up early this week.
Reader poll
Should Folly Beach leaders ban alcohol on the beach?
- Yes 32% 162 votes
- No 67% 330 votes
492 total votes.
Beckmann said the beach Sunday was awash in beer cans and bottles, cups, beer packaging, whisky bottles, broken coolers, food wrappers and other debris. So much debris was gathered that trash trucks making their regularly scheduled rounds could not handle it, he said.
Beckmann said the city is grateful for the aquarium's cleanups, adding the city is trying to organize a volunteer brigade of its own to clean and "be the eyes and ears of the city" regarding littering and other problems.
Previous story
Folly weighs ban in wake of beer litter cleanup, published 07/07/09
Among items netted in the cleanup were a discarded skim board, shoes, beer bottles and hundreds of cigarette butts. Aquarium Sustainable Seafood Coordinator Megan Westmeyer said the butts are not biodegradable and can be fatal to fish.
Cleanup organizer Rosanne Runyeon, education programs instructor for the aquarium, said Thursday's turnout "is a dream come true." Keeping the beach clean not only helps people to enjoy the beach but also benefits wildlife, including sea turtles that are nesting this time of year, she said.
Aquarium Marketing and Public Relations Coordinator Elizabeth Bender said the cleanup illustrates that the aquarium not only teaches wildlife protection and conservation, but practices it.
Reach Edward C. Fennell at efennell@postandcourier.com or 937-5560.
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KidYendor (anonymous) says...
I support smoker's rights in bars and such but I do think cigarette filters should be banned. Just suck in all the tobacco smoke you can. When you throw your butt out the car window it is filterless and will soon degrade. If smokers have to litter, their butts should not be laying where they threw them months before for us to look at. They should be filterless and degrade with the first big rain. Smokers who throw filtered butts in the sand and on our streets should be jailed.
July 10, 2009 at 1:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oldandintheway (anonymous) says...
so basically you're saying it's OK.
just make up some more excuses and
cloud the real issue so the laws don't apply to you.
or, that you don't have to obey the laws because you found a way around it.
filterless cigarettes ?
you are a kid.
July 10, 2009 at 6:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tc1 (anonymous) says...
NOT, repeat, NOT excusing the smokers. Cigarette butts Are litter.
Are we being told that cigarette butts filled more then two garbage trucks. You could stand on the beach and beyond a 10 ft radius cigarette butts are what most caught your eye? When you're driving down the highways do you notice the cigarette butts?
Are the extreme anti-smokers about to smoke screen the real issue, GARBAGE? Every time litter comes up cigarette butts get in the discussion. Priorities people.
July 10, 2009 at 7:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
Well, this started out as a crusade against beer drinkers. Now, it's cigarettes which everyone knows cause hangnails among other things. I don't suppose there was any other litter. I think that we need to get a government grant, tally what kind of trash was out there, and ban it all. I'll do the study and tabulation for under a million, and I promise to hire only legal Americans and legal immigrants. You'll have to do the banning yourselves; I'm not into that, you see.
July 10, 2009 at 7:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GAL2000 (anonymous) says...
In my opinion, any person caught littering should be fined by State Law, and be required to do Litter Detail...
July 10, 2009 at 8:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
counterpoint (anonymous) says...
Flick your cigarette butt out of your car window in front of a cop. He'll/She'll let you know whether you are littering or not.
July 10, 2009 at 9:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mkris (anonymous) says...
Carl Beckman, political genius (frukced up Folly)
If the Folly Beach city government had any brains they would have known that they needed more trash cans, and portable potties. I'm sure Mayor Carl Beckman and his staff had this conversation on Monday morning:
Chief of Police: "Hey, Carl. Those drunk jerks were pissing in the bushes at beach homes on Saturday night, and our good citizens are pissed on and pissed off."
Carl: "Perhaps we should have ordered Porta-Potties."
Street commissioner: "Hey, Carl. These morons threw trash all over the place. Why didn't someone tell us we needed more trash cans?"
Carl: "Hell, I thought if they were from South Carolina they would know not to trash the beaches. I thought for sure they would stuff their empty cans and bottles in their swimsuits before they left?"
Chief of Police: "How in the world are we going to live this down?"
Carl (in a moment of brilliance): "I've got it!! Let's call in the press, blame it on someone from out of state, blame anyone else, threaten to ban alcohol from the beach, and rally the morons who came here from up the street and did this. We'll deflect blame and get the litterers on our side and surely nobody will think it's our fault!"
Chief of Police and Street Commissioner (In unison): "Jesus, Carl, you're brilliant. That's why we elected you."
Carl: "Thanks, guys. Do you think I should wear my Speedo's to the press conference?
I read this one on the Craiglists rants and raves page... says it all.
BAN THE BOOZE AND SEND THE HANAHAN CROWD BACK TO HANAHAN!
July 10, 2009 at 9:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oldglory (anonymous) says...
Well . . . I'm not excusing the very obese (of which SC has plenty) who litter our beaches with all the containers that encase all that they stuff in their mouths!! One would think with energy generated by chain-eating that there would be enough energy to pick up a zillion containers!
July 10, 2009 at 10:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KidYendor (anonymous) says...
Can anyone translate what the second poster is saying? The real issue is all litter is bad. But you can probably find a cigarette filter on your street before you can find a beer can. Get rid of the filters. Cans will rust away quicker than cigarette butts. What is wrong with smoking without filters anyway? Then smokers can throw their butts away, they'll degrade and wisp away unlike filters. I do support smoking rights, let freedom ring. Use your pipes, cigars, and filterless cigs and let the smoke rise.
According to Wikipedia cigarette filter information :"Most cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate. Depending on conditions, estimates for the time taken for them to degrade range from British American Tobacco's 10 months - 3 years[5], to 10-15 years[6].
This resistance to biodegrading is a factor in littering[7], environmental damage[8] and suggested lung damage[9][10]. In the 2006 International Coastal Cleanup, cigarettes and cigarette butts constituted 24.7% of the total collected garbage, over twice as much as any other category.[11]"
July 10, 2009 at 10:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tc1 (anonymous) says...
KidYendor,
1. I quote myself: "NOT, repeat, NOT excusing the smokers. Cigarette butts Are litter."
2. Would you now go and find the biodegradable life of Aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Steel is no longer used for almost anything.
Anyone, what do you notice on the beach and highways first?
July 10, 2009 at 10:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
flatpickit (anonymous) says...
I had a difficult time translating tc1's post.
I have coordinated and participated in many beach cleanups. Cigarette buts are incredibly numerous and catch my eye as litter everywhere, including the highway.
July 10, 2009 at 11:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pelicanwoman (anonymous) says...
Cigarette butts catch my eye especially when they are flicked out of a vehicle in front of me and strike my car before they hit the ground. Don't cars come with ashtrays anymore?
As to the beach, I am surprised at the quantities of trash we are talking about in this story. I've lived along the coast in both Carolinas for almost 15 years and have seen crazy stuff. From kids on top of the dunes digging holes in front of the "Keep Off The Dunes" sign, to people feeding the gulls right over my chair, to drunks relieving themselves against the dunes (at Folly). And lets not forget the occasional dog owner who actually bends and scoops the poo with a baggie, but then flings it out into the water. Its a shame that people don't respect other people much anymore.
July 10, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GermanyXO (anonymous) says...
Why must alcohol be singled out as the lone culprit when litter on our beaches consists of beverage containers, cigarette butts, clothing, diapers, and dog feces? P&C, your survey lacks integrity, because as long as closet-alcoholics outnumber the rest of us Christians in the Lowcountry, your results will only reflect a NARROW MINDED group of Charlestonians who believe alcohol is EVIL.
Litter isn't confined to Charleston beaches.
Due to a broken fuel gauge, I once had to make a 2 mile hike down Cosgrove Avenue to refuel my son's Suburban. On my way out and back, I counted at least 200 cigarette butts and several dozen crushed beer cans. If locals & tourists don't mind driving down dirty highways, then why bother cleaning up area beaches? Locals & tourists who willfully litter aren't learning anything as long as paid & volunteer clean-ups continue. Perhaps locals & tourists who litter will finally get their acts together if city councils were to begin posting "Beach Closed Due to Extensive Littering" signs.
July 10, 2009 at 1:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Leash (anonymous) says...
I don't think that alcohol should be banned. I think that people should pick up after themselves. I also think it's ridiculous for people to assume that because there's no trash cans out at Morris Island or not enough trash cans that it's somehow the Folly Beach resident's or even the Mayor's fault? Isn't Morris Island in FACT an island and uninhabited?? Why would there be trash cans out there? More services call for more money, which means more taxes. Stop being a butt-head and take the trash with you that you brought in the first place and stop thinking it's someone else's responsibility. Stop ruining it for everyone else by abusing Folly Beach's liberties.
July 13, 2009 at 12:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mb300sl (anonymous) says...
Simple...enforce the existing litter laws.
July 13, 2009 at 1:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
charleston_realist (anonymous) says...
I don't understand the mentality of creating a law to stop something that is against the law.
Littering is against the law.
Don't create a law to ban alcohol/smoking/whatever to solve a LITTERING issue.
July 13, 2009 at 6:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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