THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501050186
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
WHEN SARAH DOWNING went for her morning beach walk before work last week, the litter lining the Outer Banks shoreline almost made her sick.
So on her day off, she attacked the trash.
In about 20 minutes, Downing, her husband Steve, and their Lab-like dog Jake carried more than 25 tires off a half-mile stretch of sand around the Avalon Pier. The Kill Devil Hills couple didn't know where the black rubber casings came from. But they said it was worth sacrificing part of their Saturday to clean the tires off the beach.
``I'm not that much of a good Samaritan. I just really, really hate litter,'' Sarah Downing said from her office at the Outer Banks History Center. ``It looked so ugly. I couldn't stand it. It makes me physically ill to see our beaches getting trashed.
``I don't want to live in a dump,'' said Downing, 30. ``Most people don't want to see the litter, either. But people are starting to accept it. And that's bad.''
On designated days, members of the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association have been removing litter from Outer Banks beaches for years. In 1993, the Outer Banks Surfrider Foundation began an ``adopt-a-beach'' program under which individuals and organizations can sponsor a public access to clean monthly. At the end of each summer, hundreds of residents and tourists participate in the area's largest trash pick-up project, ``Big Sweep.''
But regularly scheduled clean-ups aren't enough to keep the barrier island beaches clean, Downing and others say.
Eliminating litter has to be a daily activity.
``Those scheduled clean-ups are great,'' Steve Downing said. ``But really, they need to be done every time you go out there. It's not good enough any more just to not litter yourself. You have to pick it up, too, every time you see it. Even if you've got a cup of coffee in one hand when you're walking out there, you can still use the other hand to pick up stuff.''
Tires are a relatively unusual item to find strewn along the beach, Steve Downing said. In the 12 years he has lived in Dare County, he had never seen so many wash ashore in one spot before. Usually, shoreline litter consists primarily of food wrappers, fishing tackle and paper trash.
``The biggest thing we find on the beach are cigarette butts,'' said Brant Wise, a member of the Outer Banks Surfrider Foundation who serves on the organization's national Board of Directors. ``The beach is not an ashtray. If those filters don't burn, they certainly won't just decompose on their own - even if you bury them. Seagulls, turtles and other shore birds are finding that waste and they think it's food. But they can't digest it. Butts are as bad for the wildlife now as six-pack rings used to be.''
Many of Wise's surfing buddies and friends pick up trash each time they check the waves, he said. Some people who adopted beach accesses last summer already were cleaning up those areas unofficially. Compared to other surfing spots he's visited around the world, Wise said Outer Banks beaches are relatively clean.
``A lot of people pick stuff up on their own, because they're there,'' said Wise. ``They don't make a separate trip to do it. But it doesn't take any extra effort if you're already out there. And it's enjoyable, really. You get outside, relax walking on the shoreline, and know that what you're doing helps.
``There's a lot of people out there picking up trash,'' Wise said. ``But a lot more people are trashing it.''
The U.S. Navy is one of the largest litterbugs, Wise said. Federal regulations allow offshore carriers to dump trash more than 100 miles offshore. The waste washes up along the Eastern Seaboard.
``From a tourism standpoint, it doesn't leave a very good impression to have litter on our beaches,'' Sarah Downing said. ``It doesn't matter how it got there or who put it there. Trash just doesn't belong there.
``If every time someone was on the beach they picked up just a few things, it might not solve the problem. But it sure would help.''
Kill Devil Hills Town Manager Deborah Diaz agreed. This spring, a local citizens group hopes to initiate an early season beach clean-up for the municipality. And anyone who wants to pick up trash off the beaches can come to town hall for extra trash bags any time, she said.
``We welcome any help from our citizens and visitors,'' Diaz said. ``I think it's wonderful people are willing to take the initiative to clean their community up on their own. Anything anyone can do like that helps the town tremendously.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Steve Downing, left, and Sarah Spink Downing, both of Kill Devil
Hills, and their dog Jake spend New Year's Eve gathering tires that
washed up on Outer Banks beaches.
ADOPT-A-BEACH
In an effort to eliminate litter from Outer Banks beaches, the
Surfrider Foundation initiated an ``Adopt-A-Beach'' program two
summers ago.
Several public beach accesses in Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head
still need to be adopted.
If you or your organization would like to volunteer to clean the
area around one of these accesses once a month, write P.O. Box 1576,
Kill Devil Hills, N.C. 27948 or call (919) 480-1707.
by CNB