Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Litter on Alki Beach
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August 3, 2009 at 8:29 pm #591776
AlkifanParticipantI have gotten into the habit of picking up litter everytime I visit the beach, but there is so much litter down there that I am hardly making a dent.
How can we get Alki Beach as litter free as possible? Some thoughts…
1) Budgets are probably tight with Seattle Parks & Regs, but if they did have some resources available, and with unemployment so high, why not pay a nominal fee to someone who can constantly clean up the litter at the beach?
2) Volunteer program: Does something already exist for a volunteer litter program? Say there was a designated time every week or every day for that matter, where a group of volunteers could get together and do something great for the beach?
3) There are a lot of events down on the beach the benefit from the great location. The AVA volleyball comes to mind. I see on their website that they have two events in the summer to “Clean the Beach”. They do one in June before their season and one in September after their season. This is GREAT! But.. why not add an event before/after every tournament to give back more to the beach? I assume that they make some $$ off of the tournaments, and maybe they already have something going along these lines, but why not contribute back and hold some litter cleaning programs? What about other groups that benefit from the beach? Restaurants and other businesses along there are probably struggling like everyone else, so rather than paying out $$, donate their time every month, etc…
4) There is only 1 recycling bin that I have seen at the beach and it is located by the Bath House. This bin only takes cans and bottles. So, everywhere else on the beach, people are putting cans/bottles/plastic/paper, etc… into the Garbage Cans. Adding more recycling cans all the way down the beach would be great, I guess I am surprised that they don’t already exist? Taking this one step further, is there a group that comes to mind that could do an education program down at the beach every weekend? Teach people about recycling and have all of the necessary bins available. It would help educate younger people who may or may not already know about recycling.
My wife and I discussed the fact that we will just start to pick up trash down at Alki on a more regular basis. Since there are not the necessary recycling bins at the beach, we will bring our own bags and haul the recycling back to our house. We can only carry so much, so once again, we can only make a pin prick of a dent in this.
Final thought on this long winded post… when we take our child to the beach, it doesn’t matter where we are, she finds trash. She immediately tries to put things into her mouth at 16 months, and it just frustrates the heck out of me to see her picking up bottlecaps, plastic lids, rubber bands, etc… If she were to swallow something like this it would be aweful. Birds and wildlife can be harmed from these things. I am reaching out here to see if something can be done and I am interested in hearing from anyone on this subject.
August 3, 2009 at 10:01 pm #673693
WSBKeymasterHave you contacted the Alki Community Council? This would be a great set of ideas to take to them.
Contact info (and meeting info):
August 3, 2009 at 10:28 pm #673694
star 55ParticipantI agree with most of your comments. I had a plastic bottle and walked extra looking for the ONE recycle bin at the bath house. I do see Parks Department trucks down there on a regular basis on the weekends when we walk but maybe they need ot make two runs a day.
August 3, 2009 at 10:39 pm #673695
AlkifanParticipantLowmanbeach; Thanks for the tip, I sent my post to Paul (Secretary) at the Alki Community Council.
I never knew about the Alki Community Council, looks interesting.
Yes, the ONE recycling bin just doesn’t cut it! They should also have a recycling bin for paper, plastic, etc… Just think how many people eat food down there (like we did this morning from Spuds). I had no option (besides carrying everything back with us in an already full stroller) so we had to throw the paper, paper bag, napkins, plastic containers for tartar & ketchup, and other items in the TRASH. Bound for a Landfill somewhere. If they just had some recyling bins for various items, a GREAT deal of recycling would happen at this highly utilized beach.
August 3, 2009 at 10:52 pm #673696
gabriellegMemberI live on beach dr and walk Alki all the time. If someone set a “Clean-Up Alki Beach” time I would totally come and help. Could we make arrangements with the Parks Department?
August 3, 2009 at 11:19 pm #673697
AlkifanParticipantOkay, I sent a link to this thread along with some detail to the Superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation, Timothy A. Gallagher.
I asked Timothy what was involved in getting a volunteer ‘clean the beach’ program going, and could the Department of Parks & Recreation provide necessary recycling and trash bins for this ongoing event?
I also made a comment about all of the water that is being wasted from the Western Sprinklers on the Beach. If they simply restricted the water to a 270 degree spray instead of a 360 degree spray, a lot of gallons of water would be saved from watering the concrete and essentially blocking the walking path during the watering.
August 4, 2009 at 1:31 am #673698
EmmyJaneParticipantAt the AVA tournament on Sunday, my fiance found a 4 inch nail in the sand on their court. SCARY!
August 6, 2009 at 8:03 pm #673699
AlkifanParticipantThat IS scary!
August 7, 2009 at 8:10 pm #673700
johnnyblegsMemberI participated in a “Clean Green” event for the Junction p-patch. It was the 100th Clean Green Event. Maybe you could try to have one of the next ones down on Alki?
http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/issues/cleanGreen/
Also, Mayor Nickels is proposing LESS garbage cans in parks to reduce litter! I hope this doesn’t include Alki!
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