More than 200 local volunteers scooped 600 pounds of trash from the Upper Newport Bay estuary on Saturday during a day of service hosted by OCDE’s Inside the Outdoors program to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Representatives from OCDE, Disney, Boeing, Kaiser Permanente, Fluor, Latham & Watkins, Microsoft, Vans and Coastal Angels were among those who participated in the clean-up and restoration, which has pretty much become an annual event.
Many of their family members also took part, as did students from Trabuco Hills High in Mission Viejo, Dwyer Middle School in Huntington Beach and the Pegasus School in Huntington Beach.
While a discarded suitcase was among the odder finds of the day, the group was more satisfied to remove 1,000 plastic caps and 200 straws that were strewn throughout the nature preserve.
“The focus today was on microplastics and small plastics because of the impact on terrestrial and marine wildlife,” said Lori Kiesser, development officer for Inside the Outdoors.
Volunteers at the MLK Day of Service event were encouraged to log each collected piece of trash as a kind act as part of OCDE’s One Billion Acts of Kindness initiative.