Beaches were trashed after holiday, but cleaner compared to recent years

Long after the revelers have fled the beaches, on to nurse hangovers after a festive day of drinking and to regain lost hearing from the fireworks’ booms, a new party started up on the shores: a party just for the gulls.

The morning after the Fourth of July, the early birds — seagulls as well as humans — were greeted to a variety of garbage leftover from Tuesday’s celebrations on Manatee County beaches. Cans, chip bags, some explosives and dirty diapers were just some of contents splattered on the powdery sand, to the seagulls’ scavenging delight.

But even as beach maintenance crews were “working on ‘high gear,’ ” according to county information outreach manager Nicholas Azzara, many say that this year’s Independence Day littering level was the lowest in a while.

Steve Wood, a local woodworker, was out on Manatee Beach around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, metal detector in hand. He had found an All Seeing Hand charm with a spinning bead in the center and a couple of sand dollars. But he said there was a stark difference between pre- and post-holiday Anna Maria Island.

“Yesterday was way cleaner than it was today,” he said, adding that the sands were “pristine.”

But clean-up crews would come just hours later and add to the growing refuse from the extended holiday weekend, said property management supervisor Liza Click. First they cover the bathrooms, then the parking lots.

“The last thing we do is poke the beach,” Click said.

From Saturday to Tuesday, at least 240 cubic yards of garbage were cleared from Manatee County beaches, which Click equated to about 30,000 pounds.

Suzi Fox, executive director of the Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch, said volunteers who comb the beaches for turtle nests had discussed how clean the beaches were compared previous holidays.

“People are taking better care of what they love and (they) love Anna Maria Island and the sea turtles and shorebirds,” Fox said.

Even Holmes Beach Chief William Tokajer noticed a difference.

“This was the cleanest I’ve seen the beach after any holiday,” he said. The day and night crowds each took their trash with them, Tokajer added.

Click said a possible reason why there might have been less trash this year is because the holiday fell on a Tuesday.

Just a few miles south, volunteers gathered in the early hours to rid the nation’s reputed No. 1 beach of its unsightly blemishes.

Jason Bartolone, media relations officer with Sarasota County government, told the Bradenton Herald in an email that staff and volunteers have always come out to clean up Siesta Beach after Independence Day.

But with the sheer amount of trash that had clobbered the beach after Memorial Day, Bartolone said the county added more signs and did a social media campaign with the hashtag #PackInPackOut.

North Sarasota County beaches — which include Lido, South Lido, Ken Thompson and Centennial Park — had about 148 cubic yards of garbage collected. Workers on Siesta and Turtle beaches raked up 240 cubic yards.

But according to Bartolone, some of the staff said there was less trash compared to last year.

“But it’s definitely a lot of trash and in line with what we expect for a holiday weekend,” he said.

This story was originally published July 5, 2017 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Beaches were trashed after holiday, but cleaner compared to recent years."