Fighting Litter Involves Many Hands

COURT HOUSE – While tourists are the lifeblood of Cape May County’s shore communities, they also are the bane of its Clean Community coordinators who deal with tons of litter left behind on beaches, shorelines, trails, harbors and other public places year-round. 
At a coordinators’ meeting May 17, several noted the transient nature of the shore communities and the difficulty it presented in educating people about reducing litter.
New Jersey Clean Communities is a statewide comprehensive litter-abatement program created by the passage of the Clean Communities Act in 1986. Its goal is to reduce litter in public places, promote the volunteer cleanup of public lands and sustain a reduction in litter through education.
“If the laws are different from where tourists come from, it makes it doubly difficult to educate them about ways to prevent litter,” Cape May City Clean Communities Coordinator Pat D’Arco said.
“It goes with the geographic mindset,” added Charlotte Moyer, Ocean City coordinator. “People are on vacation, and they don’t want to think about it. If they would recycle and put litter into the public containers as they should, it would help.
“The trash cans are not for umbrellas and beach chairs they don’t want,” added Bill Macomber, Avalon coordinator.
The meeting was an opportunity for the coordinators to discuss how they spend state aid from the Clean Communities grants.
In 2016, Cape May County will receive $79,652, which will be used to purchase trash/recycling receptacles for public areas such as county parks and zoo, and also cleanup supplies, according to Nancy Mauro, county coordinator.
The county also sponsors educational programs in all grade schools and at the Earth Day Fair. Groups like the Grand Falloons, Quiet Riot, Bash the Trash and the Turtle Singer provide entertaining ways to talk about litter for audiences.
In 2012, the county implemented a mini-grant program to allow community groups to participate in cleanups and receive grant funding. To date, there have been over a dozen organizations with more than 1,000 individuals involved in the county program alone, collecting over 1,100 bags of trash. (That does not include the bags of litter collected in each municipality.) The county provides all supplies.
Civic groups, such as Kiwanis or Rotary Club, or private citizens also volunteer for cleanup but choose not to accept funding, according to Mauro. The county provides supplies as well.
Clean Communities has provided the volunteer School-Based Youth Services Club at Cape May County Technical High School with a means to assist the community while simultaneously contributing to various causes with the funds received through the mini-grant program.
According to Laurie Emhe, youth development specialist, teens have cleaned different locations. They include Belleplain State Park, Corson’s Inlet State Park, various beach projects and most recently, in Rio Grande including the lot adjacent to ShopRite, Old Rio Grande Boulevard, Satt Boulevard and First Street behind Grace Gospel Chapel.
The club is a program of Cape Counseling Services funded by the Department of Children and Families.
As a result of the mini-grants, they have contributed to Relay for Life and the school’s scholarship fund and assisted a graduate, who has brain cancer, with medical costs.
Funds this year will also assist in supplementing the school’s summer recreation activities, including hiking, rope course and a Broadway show.
“We have been doing this for almost three years,” Emhe noted, “as the students look for various community activities to be of service. We had been doing community and river cleanups prior to Clean Communities, so this was a great fit for us.”
Each of the county’s 16 municipalities also receives funding: from Ocean City, which will receive the most at $109,076, to Lower Township, which receives $90,672 to Cape May Point, which will receive the smallest amount, $4,000, this year.
Disbursements to municipalities are based on housing units and miles of municipally owned roadways. (For a complete list of grants, check http://www.njclean.org/grants/Final-Grants.html).
“In Ocean City, we purchase everything from public containers to supplies such as bags and gloves for cleanups to providing hand-outs at the Block Party,” Mike Rossbach, that city’s coordinator, said.
Ocean City hosts a cleanup on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January, and also two beach cleanups through the year. They also clean the boardwalk area where most food vendors are located on a regular basis.
D’Arco said Cape May purchases similar items and relies heavily on the Coast Guard Training Center staff and the Nature Center, and others, for volunteers. They clean beaches, harbor, and other public lands.
They also use the funding to pay for the state stormwater permit. The city will receive $22,298 this year.
“We have two beach cleanups each year,” Emelia Oleson, Cape May Point’s coordinator, said. Their beach tag collectors also are responsible for picking up litter on the beaches during the summer season.
“We now have non-smoking beaches,” Oleson added. “Cigarette butts have been one of our biggest problems.”
She noted that many residents who live in the area year-round would just “walk on the beaches and pick up litter along the way.”
They also help with other environmental projects such as one planned June 25, in which residents will remove the Parrotfeather in Lake Lily. (Parrotfeather is an invasive aquatic weed that spreads when a piece breaks off and re-establishes itself. It needs to be removed before the Open Space project begins to restore Lake Lily and add access for the physically challenged.
Lower Township does several bay cleanups annually and relies heavily on volunters from The Gables, Burke Motor, Boy Scout Troop 84, Cape May Whale Watch Research Center and the Department of Corrections for help. Linda Thomas is that municipal coordinator.
While litter left by humans presents a large issue, another issue is caused by birds often nesting on area beaches.
“From 40th to 60th, we can’t have any equipment or vehicles on the beach to clean up any litter,” said Avalon’s coordinator, “because of the piping plovers. It’s difficult to get into any of these areas by hand to pick up litter. That’s 20 blocks, a large area.” Avalon will receive $30,128 in state aid.
While shore communities deal with nesting birds and transitory audiences, Jim Gurdgiel, Woodbine’s coordinator, said they deal with other issues on the mainland. “While our population is more stable, I believe that litter has slightly decreased in the past few years,” he said, “but illegal dumping has increased. We are seeing more tires, electronics and construction materials being dumped.”
Gurdgiel recalled an incident where someone dropped a bunch of tires in front of the Department of Public Works. Another person who saw the incident captured a license plate and reported it to police. The offender was prosecuted.
“If people see something, they need to say something,” Gurdgiel said. “They should call the police who can handle it. People need to stop dumping in the woods; TVs and tires can go to the landfill.
Woodbine will receive $9,408 in state-aid, and Gurdgiel said the funds are used for disposal fees and repairs to equipment for leaf pickup. He also hopes to target storm drain cleanout this year with the funds.
Woodbine Elementary School participated in the Clean Communities Program, volunteering in the citywide cleanups each year, and cleaning the school grounds, bike path, Lincoln Park, the Woodbine Manor, Washington Street and the State Police barracks.
“We are able to involve 35-50 students, staff and parents every cleanup and make a real difference in the Woodbine community,” said Jackie Merollo, school health/physical education teacher. “The students take pride in cleaning their community, plus they have fun doing it. It’s a great way for the teachers and parents to walk side-by-side with the kids and listen and learn.”
As Student Council advisor, Merollo said she is “always looking for ways to have the sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students demonstrate leadership and good role modeling. Clean Communities not only does this, but it also helps the students develop leadership, responsibility, respect and a great sense of community pride.”
Funds received through the county’s mini-grant program are used to provide students with educational trips to the Liberty State Park, the Schooner A.J. Meerwald (New Jersey’s official Tall Ship, a restored oyster dredging schooner), and to the New Jersey Kids Clean Communities Awards Conference May 25 in Atlantic City.
“Without Clean Communities, our students would not get these great experiences and opportunities,” Merollo noted.
From a county perspective, Mauro said every year more volunteers are involved, yet more litter is picked up.
“That’s the problem, it gets dirty again,” Mauro said about litter in public places. “People need to recycle; they need not to litter.”
The municipal coordinators said part of their education was reaching out to owners of housing rentals, including realtors, to help spread the word about litter abatement and reduction.
“It’s the volunteers that help make a difference in the county,” Mauro said. “If there is a person or a group that is interested in doing a cleanup, they can contact the county for supplies and if applicable, apply for a mini-grant. We appreciate everyone’s assistance and participation in the program.” 
Anyone interested in picking up litter can check out the state’s website at http://www.njclean.org for contact information and how to volunteer.
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.