Shoreline Clean Up
Earthday Clean-up on April 20 9-10 a.m. safety talk and clean-up ends at 12:00 p.m.
preregister by emailing naturecenter@cityofberkeley.info
Groups and individuals can come do a clean-up on the third Saturday morning of each month. Join us for the Earthday cleanup here at the Shorebird Nature Center. . Be prepared to sign a waiver for yourself and your children, you cannot sign a waiver for someone elses child. we will start with a presentation on how to do the clean-up and the Synthetic Seas video about the global impact plastic is having on our oceans and waterways. It changes the experience from "Why do I have to pick up other peoples' trash?" to "Wow, I had no idea! What can I do to help?"
We provide a map of the location, data cards, bags, gloves, and sharps containers. If you can provide your own gloves and a reusable bucket it helps even more . We will team you up with two other people so data collection is easier.
Better yet, you and your group can Adopt-A-Shoreline and do two or more clean-ups a year. We'll help! The Adopt-A-Shoreline Program give you the opportunity to take care of a specific section of the shoreline and watch it change over the season. If you have never done a cleanup before, we will meet with the group prior to the cleanup to walk the site, go over logistics, safety considerations, what kind of trash is recyclable and where to put the filled trash buckets/bags, how to fill out the data cards and more.
The International Shoreline Clean Up will take place in Berkeley on Saturday, September 21. It will take place at the mouth of three creeks, and along our east shoreline and all around the Berkeley Marina. This is a great opportunity for parents and kids to work together on cleaning up the environment, and is also a popular opportunity to earn service-learning credit!
At the 2012Clean Up, over 4,232 plastic bags were collected from the Berkeley Shoreline, qualifying Berkeley as a "Plastic Hot Spot" by Save the Bay. Waste reduction plays an important role in helping to keep the City's shorelines clean and achieve our Climate Action Plan goals.
Groups of 10 or more need to to preregister by calling 510-981-6720.
WAIVERS
Please use these waivers. If you are bringing children under 18 here to do a cleanup, please have their parents sign the CHILDREN'S WAIVER form for the day of your cleanup. All children must be accompanied by an adult. . We will also have waivers available on the day of the Cleanup.
SCHEDULE
9:00 a.m. Registration and Orientation
- Everyone is encouraged to start at 9 a.m., registration will close at 10:30, so get an early start.
- All groups and individuals unless other wise informed, should meet at the Berkeley staging area located behind the Seabreeze Market at the corner of University and Frontage Rd. Here, everyone needs to sign waivers, receive safety information, and get directions to the various clean-up locations.
- We are asking everyone to bring their own reusable gloves and buckets. We do not want to generate more trash doing the clean-up than we actually pick up! But if you forget, that's okay-- we will give you trash/recycle bags, pencils, tally cards and a map of the areas we need to clean.
Noon: Cleanup Ends!
- At this point, turn in your tally cards at the main staging area and show us your most unusual items for judging. Each person who turns in the completed data card will get a ticket to be part of our raffle, which starts by 12:15. Great Items are donated by local merchants- If you would like to donate, let us know.
OTHER LOCATIONS
Berkeley coordinates with the cities of Albany and Emeryville to clean up the 14 1/2 mile stretch along the East Bay shoreline.
Join the Emery Bay Coastal Clean-up: Meet 9:00 a.m. at 2333 Powell St., Emeryville. Bring sunscreen, hat, closed shoes, gloves, water. Bring your own bags (or buckets)! Free snacks, and beverages are provided (also gloves and bags, if you can't bring your own). Prizes from local businesses. Invite friends, family, co-workers for a fun, feel-good morning. Call 510-596-3795, or email mgreenhut@emeryville.org for more info.
For the Albany Shoreline Clean-up, meet at 9:00 a.m. at the foot of Buchanan behind the Golden Gate fields race track. Bring rakes or sand sifters for the small plastic particles in the sand, drinking water, and gloves. For more information call the Watershed project 665-3689. Groups of 10 or more please pre register. Contact Julianna at JULIANNA@thewatershedproject.org
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The International Shoreline Cleanup is in its 28th year and takes place once a year, all over the world.
We will be picking up trash that comes down our creeks into the Bay and then into the Ocean. The clean-up locations are chosen depending on where the tides and currents blow the trash back onto the shoreline like a big dirty bathtub ring. Typically, 80% of the litter we pick up comes from inland, not the ocean. Some of the shoreline areas we are cleaning are part of the East shore State Park, which extends along the shoreline between Emeryville and Richmond. The clean-up provides a wonderful, empowering reason to connect the cities, to make a difference and to explore the unique shoreline areas. We encourage neighbors to do community service to clean up the Aquatic Park.
In 2009, in Berkeley alone, volunteers spent three hours stuffing garbage bags full of 16,123 cigarette filters, 12,057 caps and lids. 11,103 plastic food wrappers or containers, 7,497 bags, 6,334 straws or stirrers, and 3,187 assorted cups, plates, forks, knives and spoons to name the top 6 nastiest items. This year we were not able to count all the pieces of plastic or Styrofoam, there are too many! We were able to clean the entire Berkeley waterfront, and Aquatic Park. The data we collect gets send to the Ocean Conservancy in Washington D.C., Details about the 2009 International clean-up. See the data collected from the 2011 cleanup
In 2011 for the Cities of Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville 1,388 people cleaned 14 miles of shoreline and they picked up over 6,113 pounds of trash and 588 pounds of recyclables.
To learn about other great programs at the Berkeley Marina, visit the Marina Experience web
More Information: Below are some links to other ocean-related government agencies and projects.
More Action: We encourage people to take action and clean up the local shorelines to make them safe for wildlife and humans. Participate in a shoreline clean-up and work to reduce solid waste at its source so it never reaches the Bay.
Interested in taking a personal action to protect the Coast and ocean? Link onto the web site at the California Coastal Commission and take the California Coastal Stewardship Pledge, at http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/steward/pledge_form.html. Here you fill out a form of what changes you are willing to commit to. It offers information about specific personal actions that can help the environment .After you submit your form they will send you a reminder to do the actions, When you complete the actions you resubmit the form and you will receive a free canvas tote - and save the world at the same time!
To learn about other great programs at the Berkeley Marina, visit the Marina Experience web page or the Marina special events page.