June 18th. 9 to 11AM. Alii Beach Park & Weed Circle.

June 19th 9:30 AM to Noon. Sharks Cove

June 26th Noon to 2:30 Regular Beach Clean Up at Chun’s Reef and Laniakea.

For more information or to sign up go to http://adoptabeachhawaii.com/ or contact us.

TOP TEN DEBRIS ITEMS COLLECTED ON THE NORTH SHORE OF OAHU
1. Cigarettes                                    52,130
2.   Food Rappers/Containers                    6,226
3.   Caps And Lids                                    5,591
4.   Plastic Bags                                       5,048
5.   Pieces of Plastic                                 4,604
6.   Styrofoam Pieces                                1,571
7.   Glass Bottles                                      1,451
8.   Beverage Cans                                   1,336
9.   Broken Glass                                      1,022
10.Straws         /stirrers                               680
(Of Mention-Starbucks)                       509

During the year of  2009,  we had  47 Beach Clean Ups on the North Shore of Oahu, 474 Volunteers spent approximate 948 hours, cleaning up Kamehameha Highway and our beaches.  They collected 8,530 pounds of trash, 89,253 debris items, which were hauled to the dump.  Including labor and supplies, we saved the State of Hawaii approximately $15,000.00. In addition, 6 under-water clean ups, provided 186 pounds of lead weights collected and recycled back to the fishermen.

Overall, Cigarettes filters, cigar tips and tobacco packaging with a grand total this year of 52,600, remains, year after year, over 50% of the debris found. This has been a horrible trend for all the 10 years of tracking debris items in the whole state of Hawaii.  With the car manufactures no longer providing ashtrays and public ashtrays disappearing, the public is using our Aina.  Of great help would be for Hawaii rental car companies to provide disposable ashtrays in the cars, which could be taken to the beaches, etc.  Better yet- A no smoking ban on all beaches.

Plastic Bottle Caps will remain a problem, so long as the plastic bottles cannot be recycled with the lids on.  This is fixable.

Haleiwa Town is to be commended on going plastic bag-less. However this campaign needs to be stepped up and more community effort is needed.  Free promotional bags as gifts monthly, for visitors would be wonderful.  As a whole town, cost could be cut.

A review of the money being spent by the State and C & C on contracts to clean our beaches is imperative. Maybe the neighborhood Board #27 could look into this or form a committee.

With our State not having a Litter Prevention Office in over five years, our Litter highway signs are disappearing.  We need this office.  It affects education and tourism.