The post-Independence Day detritus on Lake Tahoe’s sandy beaches is an unfortunate reminder some people can’t handle freedom.
The good news is there’s an ever-growing army of volunteers who have swarmed those same beaches every July 5 since 2013 to take matters into their own hands.
A record 499 people turned out Thursday on five Tahoe beaches to clean up trash holiday revelers left behind, the highest volunteer turnout yet. They worked on Commons Beach in Tahoe City and Kings, Keva, Nevada and Regan in South Lake Tahoe.
“I think it is just showing that as people hear about the litter left behind it energizes many, many people to want to get involved,” said Chris Carney, spokesman for the League to Save Lake Tahoe, which organizes the event.
In addition to people volunteering as individuals, some businesses in the Tahoe area allowed employees to use work time to help the cause, Carney said.
The volunteers picked up 1,458 pounds of litter, a haul that included 8,061 cigarette butts and 18,235 pieces of single-use plastic.
The plastic came in the form of cups, lids, bottlecaps and food wrappers, according to the League.
Without the volunteers much of the trash would remain in the environment where it poses a threat to the lake’s scenic value.
“Nobody is coming to Lake Tahoe to see a dump on the shoreline,” Carney said.
It’s also a risk for wildlife because it harms animals that eat the trash.
While the primary purpose of the cleanup is to preserve Tahoe’s beauty, there’s also a secondary benefit.
It generates data about the types of trash most likely to end up on the lake’s beaches. And that data can be useful for local policymakers when it comes to considering ways to reduce littering.
Carney said data on Styrofoam containers has already been included in discussions that led to a South Lake Tahoe ban on polystyrene products in restaurants that goes into effect in October.
Data from the cleanups has also cropped up in campaigns to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic straws.
“Tracking data is really helpful,” Carney said. “Having that data really gave the city council the feeling they are going in the right direction.”
Public partners in the cleanup included California Land Management, California State Parks, City of South Lake Tahoe, the Tahoe City Public Utility District and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the U.S. Forest Service. Private partners included Heavenly and Northstar resorts, MontBleu Resort, RnR Vacation Rentals and Tahoe City Kayak.
