Community volunteers will gather at locations across New Hanover County this Saturday, Oct. 10 to pick up litter and debris.
Various incarnations of the annual countywide cleanup have been held over the years, and for 2015, Cape Fear River Watch is organizing it for the first time and calling it the New Hanover County Keep America Beautiful Cleanup.
River Watch selected six cleanup sites across the county: Greenfield Lake, Park Avenue from Greenville Road to Bradley Creek, Empie Park, N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher, the Wilmington waterfront and Wrightsville Beach.
David Cignotti, former Wrightsville Beach mayor and one of the coordinators of the beach cleanup, said the event helps erase the lingering effects of thousands of tourists enjoying the beach strand all season.
“To me, it’s a great way to end the summer,” he said. “It gives us a chance to clean up after the heavy use of the summer season.”
Usually volunteers will find small pieces of litter like bottle caps and cigarette butts, Cignotti said. Trash bags and extra gloves will be available near Johnnie Mercer’s Pier, where Wrightsville Beach volunteers should meet at 9 a.m.
“From there, I think people will fan out throughout other areas of the beach,” he said, estimating that, depending on how many volunteers show up, they could cover about a 10-block stretch of beach strand.
“I know there were a couple years where we had over 150 volunteers,” he said. “We had some of them go down to Crystal Pier because we had too many for the Mercer’s Pier area.”
Often families take part together, he said, but students have come out in large numbers too, because many high schools offer volunteer credit hours for participating.
Cignotti said an annual beach sweep is important, and he has helped coordinate this one for more than a decade. He’s impressed with how many people take it upon themselves to pick up trash throughout the year.
“Wrightsville Beach is really fortunate that there are so many people, many who don’t even live here, that care enough about the beach that they come out on a regular basis,” he said.
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