Notes about your surroundings.

Beach Cleanup Wrap-Up--Tens of thousands of people converged on beaches throughout the country last Saturday to pick up trash on national Beach Cleanup Day. Locally, there was a marked increase in the number of volunteers and trash collected compared to the previous year, state Coastal Commission spokesman Jack Liebster said.

The local effort was organized by the California Coastal Commission and the State Parks Foundation. Nearly 1,400 volunteers--five times the number at last year’s one-day cleanup event--picked up debris on county beaches, with the highest number of volunteers cleaning up the Back Bay area of Newport Beach.

About 37,500 pounds of trash, including 3,300 pounds of recyclable materials, were tallied locally by cleanup organizers, Liebster said. Last year, about 5,500 pounds of trash were collected on county beaches during the one-day cleanup.

Among the more unusual items picked up by volunteers were a refrigerator, two home furnaces, a sofa and a large number of tires and wheels in the Back Bay area, he said.

“Some people are just too lazy to bring that stuff to a local dump site,” Liebster said.

A rusted shopping cart was found in Capistrano Beach, and volunteers found “quite a few” tennis balls on Bolsa Chica State Beach, he added.

Along with the unusual kinds of trash came the unsafe.

“Almost every group who came back had seen syringes as well,” Liebster said, adding that volunteers were advised to contact a ranger or supervisor to pick up such waste and not handle it themselves.

Any group or individual who would like to find out more about how to adopt a local beach and clean it up or how to sign up and participate in next year’s cleanup day should contact the state Coastal Commission at (415) 543-8555.

COUNTY BEACH CLEANUP TALLY

Category 1989 1990 Volunteers 273 1,384 Trash + 5,421 37,500 Recyclable materials + * 3,300

+ In pounds * Information not available Source: California State Coastal Commission