tag:www.chicagonow.com,2010:/blogs/practically-green//58/tag:www.chicagonow.com,2009:/blogs/practically-green//58.24865- Living the eco-friendly life in Chicago Movable Type 4.261 tag:www.chicagonow.com,2009:/blogs/practically-green//58.24865 2009-10-06T20:09:50Z 2009-10-07T22:06:02Z

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Shedd Aquarium Beach Sweep this past Saturday! It was a ton of fun--and a huge success! We even had a great day for it--until the rain came in at the very end....

Supriya Doshi http://www.chicagonow.com/profiles/SupriyaDoshi
We even had a great day for it--until the rain came in at the very end. Thank goodness for those RedEye ponchos!

Here are the numbers from the garbage that was picked up, along with some of the strange things we found ...
>> 79 pounds of garbage were collected
>> 79 pounds of recyclables
>> 158 pounds total of trash were disposed of
>> 565 bottle caps were found
>> 3471 cigarette buts were recovered--but trust me when I say there were too many to pick up, despite the ban on smoking on beaches

The sweep was a great opportunity to see close up exactly how much trash ends up on our beaches. The sand was pretty packed down that day because of rain, but it wasn't hard to see how much junk ends up being left behind.

In addition to the stuff listed above, beach sweepers found plastic baggies, cans, bottles, what we suspected was a shotgun shell, a beach toy, a broken hockey stick, LOTS of glass shards, a used condom ... the list could go on and on.

I was pretty disgusted seeing what people leave on their beaches. Not only they hurting the water and birds, they also have to lay on this junk. Eww.

So, if you've never done a beach sweep, I highly encourage you give it a shot. It's an eye-opener.

For more information on the Shedd Aquarium's Great Lakes team and information on the next (and final) beach sweep of the season, check out their blog!

And those of you who've participated in beach sweeps, I'd love to hear about your experience!
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