From cigarettes to sex toys: what NJ beach sweeps removed from Shore last year

LONG BRANCH — What do 20,000 straws and coffee stirrers, 50,000 plastic bottle caps, and a three-foot teddy bear all have in common?

They were among the thousands of pieces of garbage picked up off New Jersey beaches last year during Clean Ocean Action's two beach sweeps, according to the Long Branch-based environmental organization's 2022 Beach Sweeps Report, which was issued Wednesday.

Thousands of volunteers helped pick up a total of 376,969 pieces of trash, according to the organization. The garbage included everything from the mundane — thousands of plastic bags, more than 22,000 cigarette filters, 37,000+ candy and food rappers — to the more strange and unusual.

Among the more notable items collected were a car muffler, a stone countertop, a mustache, a bottle of human urine, an eyeball, a silicon breast, even some sex toys, according to the report.

The goal of these beach sweeps is not just to clean the environment, but to count and record each piece of garbage for a dataset that informs federal, state and local policies, said Clean Ocean Action staff.

Clean Ocean Action's Beach Sweep data was used to help push for New Jersey's ban on single-use plastic bags and plastic-foam takeout containers, said Kari Martin, Clean Ocean Action's advocacy campaign manager. The law, which took effect in 2022, also prevents restaurants and fast food eateries from distributing single-use plastic straws to customers, unless they ask.

Last year, the organization's volunteers removed 5,833 plastic bags; 21,216 straws and stirrers and 1,689 plastic food containers from New Jersey beaches, according to the report.

"We're able to turn all of that effort into a legacy of information that we can use to change policies and… to make the changes that we need to reduce litter that gets into our ocean and into our waterways," said Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action. The pollution "is not just ugly on the beaches, but… is lethal or harmful to marine life."

Clean Ocean Action staff said there is an upside to the 2022 data: the amount of garbage pulled off New Jersey beaches, in many cases, dropped from 2021.

Straw and stirrer collections dropped 39%, disposable facemask garbage was down 40%, and plastic bottle caps and lids were down 29%. Other garbage — balloons, plastic bags, dog waste bags and paper — also declined.

However, volunteer participation also dropped 18.5% between 2021 and 2022, from 10,003 participants down to 8,148, according to the report.

The organization is currently seeking volunteers for its 2023 Beach Sweeps, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. April 1 and Oct. 21 at 75 beaches across the Jersey Shore.

The organization's next mission is to find a New Jersey legislator willing to sponsor a bill that would restrict outdoor balloon usage.

In addition to fishing gear and plastic bags, balloons and their ribbons present among the three greatest entanglement threats to seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals, according to a study published in a 2016 issue of the journal Marine Policy and cited by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Clean Ocean Action volunteers removed 2,067 balloons made of Mylar, plastic or rubber from the state's beaches last year.

"We really need to change the public awareness about balloons," said Zipf. "They're beautiful. They're fun, but they're inside toys or things to be very careful with."

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ beach sweeps nets tons of trash, from cigarettes to sex toys