Patch Joins Hundreds for Coastal Cleanup Day

Mill Valley resident Rebecca Pieper is always looking for age-appropriate volunteer opportunities to do with her 5-year-old daughter Kate. As she made the rounds in the Richardson Bay marshlands outside Saturday morning for Coastal Cleanup Day, it was clear she'd found one.

Carrying her 16-month-old daughter Emma on her back, Piper knelt down to help Kate pick up plastic wrappers, a glass bottle and even a twisted maze of metal. By the end of the morning, Kate was employing a trash grabber herself to pick up some food wrappers.

"We're always talking about how things are packaged in plastic and how important it is to keep our oceans clean," Pieper said. "This is a really great way to show her exactly that."

The Piepers were among a small group of local residents who came out to Strawberry to volunteer Saturday as part of the 27th annual Coastal Cleanup Day.

Patch editors were on the scene as well, picking up what seemed to be an endless supply of tennis balls that had made their way into the marsh from the fields next to it. The effort was part of the Patch's Give 5 program, in which all employees volunteer several times a year in their local communities.

Volunteers scoured beaches and shorelines all over the Bay Area for trash, debris and recyclables for the 27th annual cleanup event organized by the San Francisco-based California Coastal Commission.

Organizers expected the event to draw more than 82,000 people statewide. Small events were held throughout Marin, and the Marine Mammal Center hosted a cleanup on Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands.

Coastal commission officials said a survey of 1,000 of last year's cleanup volunteers show the event has been an effective tool in educating participants about the harmful impact of trash on the ocean.