Volunteers scour shoreline for garbage as part of international cleanup effort
Sep. 21—WATERFORD — Margie Sydney of Waterford reached one hand into a field of goldenrod at Seaside State Park on Saturday to untangle a small piece of plastic ribbon.
Nearby, clutching a white plastic garbage bag in one hand, Donna Terry of Niantic stooped to grab a cigarette butt off the ground while a U.S. Coast Guard Academy cadet trampled through a clump of briars on the outskirts of the 36-acre property to retrieve a discarded nip bottle.
These shoreline garbage pickers were among a group of about 30 who fanned out across the grounds of the former Seaside sanatorium on Saturday. The Waterford gathering was part of a larger effort organized by Save the Sound on the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup Day. The yearly initiative, held each year on the third Saturday of September, has motivated 11.5 million people to pickup 210 million pounds of trash from nearly 390,000 miles of shoreline over the past 20 years.
"We bring our dog here five days a week. The least I could do is help out, " Terry said.
"I had the time so I picked a spot in Waterford," Sydney said. "It's a beautiful place."
The two dozen Coast Guard cadets from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London performed work at Seaside to help satisfy community service requirements of the academy.
Helping to organize the volunteer effort in Waterford on Saturday were Friends of Seaside State Park board members Debby Green and Frances Steffian, who handed out garbage checklists, gloves and plastic garbage bags. The checklist helps Save the Sound to track what kind of garbage shows up along the coast each year.
In its 2023 cleanup report, Save the Sound lists cigarette butts as the most common type of trash found on the shoreline, with an average of more than 20,000 collected each year. Food wrappers, small pieces of plastic, Styrofoam and balloons continue to be the most persistent types of trash found over the past six years, the report shows. Styrofoam, plastic and cigarette butts can be mistaken for food and lead to the poisoning of shoreline wildlife.
Green, a neighbor of Seaside, said while most people are conscientious, there is also fishing line left behind on the grounds that could be harmful to the fish and birds, including the osprey nesting on one of the park's abandoned buildings.
Cleanup events were happening throughout the region on Saturday, including places like Ocean Beach Park and Greens Harbor Beach in New London, Rocky Neck State Park in Niantic and Bluff Point in Groton.
On Friday, the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut joined with other organizations for a Mystic and New London- specific cleanup effort sponsored by Revolution Wind.
Volunteers in Saturday's regional effort had planned to dive for garbage in the waters off Amistad Pier in New London, but water conditions were a bit too rough, Glori Shanda of Hebron said. Shanda is a diver with Groton-based scuba club SECONN Skin Divers.
"We come out every year to help out with the cleanup," Shanda said.
In past years, members have donned scuba gear and entered the waters off City Pier to retrieve an array of refuse that has included plastic cups, glass containers and even skateboards and bicycles.
Because of Saturday's water conditions, however, Shanda joined with fellow divers Steve Uden and Ryan Patrylak, along and Save the Sound representative Betsy Painter to instead scour the pier for garbage.
