Turtle Tuesdays started again this week with a beach cleanup at Clarke Avenue.
The weather was sketchy as storms rolled in from the west, and a distant threat of lightening, but many volunteers came out anyway and got busy.
Gregg Beletsky, Founder of Turtle Tuesdays in 2013 when he was president of the Worth Avenue Association, is still leading the effort that includes a partnership with Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
Mr. Beletsky, currently a director at Akris on Worth Avenue, told the Shiny Sheet that during August and October of last year, Turtle Tuesday volunteers removed more than 8,471 pieces of debris from the beaches. The top fives items collected in those two months: 5,091 plastic pieces, 1,354 bottle caps, 239 foam pieces, 199 pieces of rope/braided line and 166 plastic rings.
Loggerhead provides the bags and other supplies and sorts and weighs the debris. The debris “data” is sorted and analyzed at the center, which helps provide information to organizations such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Ocean Conservancy.
In the last six years, Turtle Tuesdays volunteers have collected 15,000 pounds of trash from beaches in the town.
The clean-ups will be the second Tuesday of June, July, September and October.
To find out more go to the Worth Ave. Association website under events and you can follow on Instagram at turtle.tuesday
Announcements will be made there for future locations and parking.
