Coastal Cleanup Day a Mighty Success!

What a turnout for Coastal Cleanup Day this year! Restore Coyote Creek and the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter hosted its first Coastal Cleanup Day, not knowing exactly how wildly successful it would be. We had 150 volunteers and the Conservation Corp who helped collect 5.7 tons of trash over a nearly 1 mile stretch of creek from Tully Road south to Capitol Expressway. To put that amount of trash into perspective, this is the equivalent of 4 Mini Coopers in weight. 

Here is a sampling of what we collected:

• 600 bags of trash
• 100 articles of clothing
• 26 tires
• 12 shopping carts
• 10 bicycles

Some of the most unusual items included:

• Mop bucket and wringer
• 2 TVs
• Water cooler
• Darth Vader game controller
• Dart board
• Spanish Bible

We had people come representing so many different organizations: Sierra Club, Silver Creek High School, Yerba Buena High School, Andrew Hill High School, City Council District 7, McLaughlin Corridor Neighborhood Association, San Jose State University, and University Preparatory Academy. About 70 of the attendees were high school students. One of the adults "enjoyed working with the young people who are fantastic."

Many of the people were all smiles and commented on how much fun they had. One person said he was "interested to see how far the trash extends" into the creek. One group of students couldn't believe how many tires were in the creek..."tires, tires, tires!"  

Sonya Herrera, journalist at the Spartan Daily, wrote an excellent piece about the cleanup event, and interviewed many of the participants. You can read her article for more insights.