Mon, July 19, 2004

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Stefanie Sekich
858-792-9940

July 6, 2004

San Diego, CA: On July 5th, over 1,000 volunteers picked up 2 tons of trash left behind from the 4th of July celebration. The San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, along with Sun Diego Boardshops, sponsored the “Morning After Mess” in order to cleanup the litter and raise awareness about the mess. The 1,000+ volunteers only cleaned up a fraction of the trash left behind; and individual cities had to clean the rest.

“We had six different cleanup sites throughout San Diego County (Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Del Mar, Mission Beach, Carlsbad and Oceanside). Local environmental and citizen based groups such as I Love Clean San Diego, San Diego Baykeeper, and Keep Del Mar Clean, helped organize each site. We worked closely with the City and we are delighted about how successful the event was” said Stefanie Sekich Chapter Administrator for the San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

"The event was a tremendous success, not only because of the number of volunteers and tons of trash collected, but also because of the diversity of the volunteers and the public awareness that was raised. Volunteers consisted of families, youth groups and beach lovers of all ages" said Bill Hickman of the San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

Surfrider and Sun Diego plan to make the “Morning After Mess” a tradition; but ask people to take preventive measures for the next 4th of July by:

1. Consuming less and buying products that have less packaging.
2. Throw away your trash during the celebration.
3. Bring home any trash or recyclables that do you can not throw away.
4. Before you leave the beach take at least one piece of trash that someone else might have left behind.
5. Help clean your community the day after ANY celebration—not just the 4th of July.

Surfrider also notes that trash on the beach is costly for everyone--taxpayers front the bill for cities to cleanup beaches, and marine life can be harmed by the trash that enters our ocean and bays.

Stefanie Sekich-- San Diego Chapter
P.O. Box 1511
Solana Beach, CA 92075
Office: 858-792-9940
Fax: 858-755-5627
stefanie@surfridersd.org
www.surfridersd.org