Trashy art makes a splash for coastal cleanup day

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In a previous year, the California Coastal Cleanup Day poster featured a Cig Egret -- a creepy coastal bird with a bill that morphed into a filtered cigarette. It was an artist’s illustration to signify that 4.2 million cigarette butts have been picked up since the mid-1980s. Then there was the Cola Bass, the Spork Crab the Spare Tire Turtle ... well, you get the idea. The California Coastal Commission, working with an ad agency, allows folks to collect the entire set of nonnative species of the California coast.

This year’s featured creature is no less bizarre, one drawn to illustrate the proliferation of bottle caps and other plastic debris that end up in the ocean or on the state’s beaches.

The Coastal Commission, working with various nonprofit groups, is organizing another cleanup day for 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 20 at 700 locations. Last year, about 60,000 people picked up nearly 1 million pounds of debris.

Does this frenzy of activity do any good? Charles Moore, a gentleman scientist who has devoted his life to halting the proliferation of marine debris, believes such efforts are excellent tools for public education. But he maintains they do little to tackle the problem head-on. Instead of such cleanups, he believes the solution is to staunch the flow of debris washing into the oceans. About 80% of such debris comes from the land, washing off city streets into storm drains and rivers and out to sea, or are blown by the wind to the sea. The rest is jettisoned by ships.

The California Ocean Protection Council has drafted a strategy to reduce such plastic debris. The solutions, the council report says, are extensive and involve the state Legislature toughening anti-litter laws and developing other incentives to change public behavior.

-- Kenneth R. Weiss