On February 28, 2014 the third flush of the 2013-2014 school year occurred. Although the rain was much needed because of the drought, the horrendous amount of Styrofoam and plastic was not as welcomed. The vast amount of water that these rain storms created pushed out any remaining plastics that were stuck in the drains from the last storm as well as approximately a months worth of build up. There was an abundance of Styrofoam objects, as well as plastic water bottles and clear plastic bags. Thanks to the Santa Monica and Los Angeles bag ban though, the usual grocery store plastic bag was not as common as in previous flushes. However, we found one of the new “reusable” black plastic bags that claimed to be keeping “So. Cal. Beautiful” laying right on the shore (see below). It was not a “beautiful” sight to see. We were on the beach for several hours picking up as many plastics and trash possible. Seeing all the trash on the edges of the Pico-Kenter storm drain supported the frightening realization that it was only a fraction of what entered into the ocean. Fortunately, Team Marine prevented a total of three large bags of plastics and trash from polluting our beautiful coast.
