Coastal Cleanup comes to Ocean Point

Mon, 09/17/2018 - 10:00am

Cigarette butts and food wrappers were the catch of the day as a small corps of volunteers combed the beach at Ocean Point on Sunday looking for trash that might find its way into the ocean.

According to group leader Zach Gordon of the Augusta-based Maine Coastal Program, the effort was the 30th year Maine Coast Week has joined a national effort to clean up shorelands. A 2015 environmental studies graduate of Skidmore College, Gordon farms mussels in the Portland area.

After a half hour, the harvest at Ocean Point beach yielded 14 cigarette butts and 10 food wrappers, many found above the high water mark.

“Trash eventually finds its way into the ocean,” said Gordon.

The volunteers also found other debris including remnants of fishing gear. The campaign aims to protect ocean waters by slowing the use and improper disposal of plastic shopping bags and straws, said Gordon.