Lighthouse De-Plasticized

One week after a statewide tax on plastic bags came into effect, 35 volunteers celebrated at Lighthouse Point Park by making the beach a little more plastic-free.

Several local organizations collaborated on Thursday morning to pick up litter at the park’s beach as part of a third annual ​“Don’t Trash the Sound” campaign.

Volunteers hailed from Connecticut Fund for the Environment’s Save the Sound initiative, Mystic Aquarium, Audubon Connecticut, The Nature Conservancy, and the Long Island Sound Study.

The cleanup is one of approximately sixty that Save the Sound plans to organize this year. Last year, after a similar number of cleanups, Save the Sound volunteers had picked up seven tons of trash, according to Director of Member Engagement Joseph DiMaggio.

“You can think of the Long Island Sound as the repository that’s collecting trash from five different states,” DiMaggio said.

Each piece of plastic removed from the beach leaves an impact, according to MaryEllen Mateleska, the director of education and conservation at Mystic Aquarium.

“We see seals that are entangled in lines, small crabs and snails using trash as a shell,” Mateleska said, referring to the aquarium’s work with sea animal conservation. And the health of even the smallest sea creatures impacts the entire food chain, including human beings, she said.

“The number one impact in my mind is that it raises awareness,” said Holly Drinkuth, the director of outreach and watershed projects for the Nature Conservancy in Connecticut.

She and other organizers noted that the cleanup occurred at a hopeful moment for Connecticut environmentalists, given the recently-implemented tax on plastic bags in Connecticut. ​“We’re really celebrating,” Drinkuth said.

One family of five — Sal, Lisa, and their three daughters, Kylie, Courtney, and Rosalie — said they’d never been to an organized beach cleanup before. They came ​“just to help out.” They said they found lots of glass and a bottle of men’s conditioner.

“I don’t think I realized how much plastic there is,” said Lisa.

“I just like taking care of the ocean,” said fourteen-year-old Shaelin DiGioia, who swims competitively. She said she wants to be an environmental scientist when she grows up, and at her high school in Beacon Falls, she hopes to do her senior year project on ecological conservation.

DiGioia said she’s planning to live ​“waste-free” throughout college, despite skepticism from her friends. ​“They don’t think I can do it, but I’m gonna prove them wrong,” she said. She periodically shared videos of the cleanup with her peers on social media.

Shaelin and her mom, Naomi DiGioia, said they picked up a syringe, a dirty diaper, a plastic bottle full of urine, and a toy dinosaur, in addition to other trash.

“She’s been inspiring me,” Naomi said of her daughter.

Nearby, another mother-daughter duo, Bonnie and Meghan Bouwman, documented the trash they’d collected on a worksheet. They said they found ​“a lot of plastic.”

“It’s honestly crazy to see how much you can find that you wouldn’t normally see if you weren’t looking for it,” said Meghan.