Collection Report Sept 4, 2010

Following on from this post about the scene at Bay View beach, Saco, Maine the morning after former-hurricane Earl barely missed us.

I knew when I got home I had a big haul. Both from the flotsam washing up right in front of my eyes and the remnants of late-summer fiestas.

42 individual sparklers... not that I counted

Overall, it was an astounding catch. Here's Zone N:

411 finds:

• Building material: 0
• Foam/Styrofoam: 12 (inc. two pieces of Dunkin Donuts coffee cup)
• Fishing misc.: 12 (4 claw bands, 5 pieces of rope, 2 trap tags, 1 trap tag scrap)
• Food-related plastics: 59 (inc. Ritz PB crackers, Quaker Chewy oatmeal bar, Sunbelt Choc Chip cookies, Twizzlers, Reese's PB cup, Snickers bar, organic vanilla yogurt, label from Granny Smith apple, label from Fuji apple)
• Food-related metal/glass: 12 (inc. 5 bottle caps: Mike's Hard Lemonade, Twisted Tea, Miller Lite, and 2 Blue Moon Brewing Co.)
• Non-food/unknown plastics: 70 (inc. bits of plastic shopping bags, 4 bandaids, rabbit-shaped Silly Band, insole (?) labeled "RIVER", 4 rubber bands (maybe from sandwiches), beach umbrella base, "leaf" from toy or ornament, and 15 bashed-around scraps of hard plastic -- most likely washed in)
• Cigarette filters/plastics: 168 (152 local, 10 likely floaters, 6 plastics)
• Paper/wood: 26 (inc. burned Spanish-language magazine bits found at bonfire, label from plastic water bottle, Budweiser label scrap, pharmacy receipt, Reny's "Paid" sticker, two salt packets, ice-cream cone wrapper)
• Misc./unique: 52 (inc. 42 sparklers, sock, towel tag, velcro scrap, 4 firework scraps, nylon seam reinforcement strip)

Just... wow. 411 finds shatters the Zone N record. It shatters the combined N/S record. 162 cigarettes shatters that record. The bashed-up, washed-in plastic scraps are sobering, the trap tags and claw bands ever-present after any storm. The food wrappers in their bright, happy colors...

Of all the bits & bobs, a few that caught my eye:

What "162 cigarette butts" looks like

Shards of mostly waterborne plastics

Two of the ~1 million tags lost annually

Nope, burning plastic still doesn't get rid of it

Which claw band's been in the water the longest?

Needs no caption

It just keeps coming.

By the time I'd finally finished picking up Zone N, there was again no time to check Zone S. And other commitments kept me away for the days afterward. So again, sadly no comparison between "busy" Zone N and "quiet" Zone S. But this coming weekend an old friend I haven't seen in a very long time will be visiting with me. And for some strange reason, he also thinks a nice way to spend a Saturday morning is picking up other folks' trash at the beach! So we just might have a Zone N-and-S post again soon.

After the Earl

My last report followed a windy rainshower, and the flotsam was amazing. My September 4th collection followed what could have been a monster. So it's with no small relief that former Category 4 Hurricane Earl (a) lost its gusto, (b) tracked far out into the Atlantic, and (c) passed Maine's coast at low tide.

The morning after revealed a beach looking little different from the week before. Well, with one exception.

Hmm, something's missing...

Dismantling & removing the lifeguard station ahead of Labor Day = respecting Mother Nature. Still, at first it seemed Earl barely registered on Bay View beach. Heck, it didn't even toss about the previous week's abandoned kelp forest.

So I began my collection for the day. And then a funny thing happened. Halfway through, I started seeing something odd.

A weird, pulverized, fiber-y mass started washing in as the tide rose. In all the months I've beachcombed I'd never seen anything like it. It seems Earl had indeed left a parting gift, an organic "carpet" washing up on my shore. Except it wasn't just organics.

Claw band

Over and over, the waves brought bits of floating trash right up to my feet. First a claw band, then a piece of foam. It was astounding.

Another claw band

Another claw band, a gnarled piece of green plastic, a burned piece of wood, a cigarette butt, a bright yellow shard of hard plastic.

Bit of green plastic scrap

For months now I've arrived at the beach "after the fact." My feet reach the sand, and what's happening has already mostly happened. And I have to make educated guesses about where the junk has come from. But to actually see it arrive -- to watch the ocean depositing bits of man-made debris with each wave -- was sobering. And a gift. It made it real. Garbage patches, persistent trash, plastic in seabirds... it's not some farce or fantasy. It's out there, and it washes in with each storm. Even if said storm blessedly spares your home in other, more direct ways.

I only wish I'd had more time to spend at the beach that morning. Who knows how much else I'd have found.

Tidal "carpet" by the time I had to leave

As it was, I already left with a full, and heavy, bag -- and heart. The full collection report is still forthcoming. But I'll close this post with a teaser:

This was no small haul