Why the Last 5 Minutes at the Beach are the Best

Today my husband and I went to the beach just to dip our toes in and breathe that salty air, and we decided to spend the last few minutes picking up trash (especially plastic) from the sand. I have never been more aware of just how much garbage there is out there! From unopened bags of Sour Patch Kids to beer cans, to tiny bits of plastic, to cigarette butts, there was so much crap on the beach. I grabbed everything I could in my area, but I feel like I didn't even make a DENT. But, to cite one of my favorite environmentalist quotes:

"It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little." -Sydney Smith

If each person did just a little bit, the oceans would be a significantly cleaner place. My husband and I decided that the last 5 minutes of the beach every time we go will be us (and someday our kids too) grabbing a bag and cleaning up every bit of trash we can find (whether it was left by us or not!). This way we can keep the beach clean, and teach the kids some good values at the same time.

In just the few short minutes we spent picking up trash (yes with an old plastic bag...forgive me!) we found so many types of garbage! Some of these things were:

• Bottle caps (tons and TONS of these)
• Plastic straws
• Small bits of unidentifiable plastics
• Whole plastic grocery bags
• Whole plastic water bottle bags
• Water bottles
• Beer cans (SO many!)
• Lighters
• Cigarette Butts
• Full bags of chips
• Pieces of old shoes

People, please clean up your garbage when leaving the beach. Please clean up your garbage always! Or even better, stop using harmful items that contain plastic or won't biodegrade; at least recycle.

So much good can be done in the last 5 minutes at the beach, so let's all grab a bag and make a difference! Find any interesting garbage while at the beach?? Let me know in the comments!