The Surfrider Foundation South Jersey Chapter teamed up with residents of Ventnor and others to clean Wellington Avenue on Sunday March 6th. It is amazing what was found. For three hours, 24 people worked to pull debris out of the marsh in the stretch from the "Welcome to Ventnor" sign to the end of the shopping centers. More than 30 bags full of trash and recycling were collected, in addition to a tire, a hub cap, two couch cushions, and plywood and lumber debris. The group counted the number of plastic bags they found with a staggering total of 733. Please, everyone, use your reusable bags. We do not need this plastic going into our oceans!
Beth Kwart, Chair of the Surfrider Foundation South Jersey Chapter and a Ventnor resident, said, "The road looks beautiful with the hard work of all our volunteers. The Ventnor Police Department was a great partner. They provided officers to slow traffic and helped us move the heavy trash bags to one location for pickup by ACUA. Special thanks also to Ventnor Coffee for bringing coffee to keep us going!"
Wellington Avenue has a shopping center on one side and the bay on the other. Any trash left in the shopping center's parking lot is only one gust of wind away from ending up in the ocean. Here are some photos from the event:
#PlasticStrawsSuck
During the clean up. Look out into the march toward the stores to see all the trash!
After the clean up, all the trash is removed and the marsh looks beautiful.
