HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — As tens of thousands of Californians take to the beach with shovels and trash bags Saturday for the 38th annual Coastal Cleanup Day, visitors to the Huntington Beach cleanup will be greeted with a trash castle. Created by Marin County artists Richard and Judith Lang and presented as part of the California Department of Transportation’s Stormwater education campaign, the installation is composed of the many pieces of refuse the couple found along the beach.
“The trash castle is a temporary art piece to represent the thousands of pounds of trash on our state beaches and waterways,” artist Judith Lang said in a Caltrans video promoting Saturday’s cleanup, where the Trash Castle will make its debut. “Every single piece, one of us bent over and picked it up.”
The castle is composed of litter, plastics, metals — even discarded toys.
The ocean conservation group Oceana estimates that 15 million metric tons of plastic flood into the world’s oceans every year. Whether it’s a straw or cup escaping from a recycling center and entering the natural environment through a river, or a fishing net that’s discarded directly into the ocean, the equivalent of two garbage trucks filled with plastic enter the water every minute, the group says.
The amount of plastic in the ocean is expected to triple by 2040. Plastic production alone is expected to double over the next two decades, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Just nine percent of plastics are recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The Caltrans Stormwater Public Education Campaign is a three-year project designed to raise awareness about the sources and pathways of California stormwater pollution. According to its educational website, stormwater contains multiple pollutants. In the LA region, stormwater includes trash and litter accumulating on highways that makes their way into waterways; metals from vehicle, tire and brake wear; and bacteria from pet waste and illegal disposal of RV waste.
California Coastal Cleanup Day is an annual event held on the third Saturday of September each year for volunteers to pick up trash along the beach. The Huntington Beach event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17.
According to the California Coastal Commission, state residents and tourists make more than 150 million visits to California beaches each year. They are one of the many contributors to marine debris, 80% of which comes from land-based sources such as litter.