Brooks organizes Anchorage coastline cleanup
Anchorage Coastal Cleanup Day is an annual event and this year Lyn Ary Park and Point Woronzof were the focus of the clean up efforts for young and old.
Volunteers wore gloves and Xtratufs as they combed Anchorage’s coastline for broken glass, nails and other trash Sunday morning.
“It’s appalling, I don’t know why people do it,” said Laura Hartz, who was out with her young son.
The glass and nails were the obvious items being collected. There was also old clothing, cans and linoleum.
“I’ve never seen so many rusty nails on a beach,” said volunteer Matt Beattie.
“You couldn’t walk on this beach barefoot,” he said.
The cleanup crew says most of the nails come from pallets being burned in bonfires and the glass from smashed alcohol bottles.
“It’s fairly disgusting I had no idea that it was that gross down there,” said J.P.Wood, whose job was to collect the bags of trash, weigh them, and sort out recyclable items.
Some locals say the beach near Lyn Ary Park is becoming a hazard because of the glass and nails.
“I have kids and live nearby and we love to come down here to play but we always have to be careful you can’t dig in the sand with your hands,” said event organizer Regan Brooks.
“It’s an incredible resource to have in the city, to have a beach like this, so it would be wonderful if we could take better care of it,” Brooks said.
