SMC 2023 Beach Cleanup

By Lucas Weiss & Presley Alexander | Staff Writers

Volunteers from West Side Ballet Santa Monica as well as independent volunteers at the Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., for a coastal beach cleanup organized by the Santa Monica College Sustainability Center on Sept. 23, 2023. The West Side Ballet 2023's cleanup participates with around 30 dancers; they have participate every cleanup for about 10 years since. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Volunteer Xavier successfully picks up a piece of trash from a lagoon during a coastal beach cleanup organized by Santa Monica College Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept. 23, 2023. The heavily polluted lagoon is fed by the South Pier Outflow Pipe which has ineffective debris collection. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Volunteers Elif Sekman, right, and Deb Williams, left, collecting and taking notes on the trash during a coastal beach cleanup organized by Santa Monica College Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept 23, 2023. Elif carries around a pride flag while collecting trash while Deb takes note on the types of trash collected. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Volunteer Xavier attempts to pick up a piece of trash with a stick in a lagoon during a coastal beach cleanup organized by Santa Monica College Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept. 23, 2023. The heavily polluted lagoon is fed by the South Pier Outflow Pipe which has ineffective debris collection. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Gene Collins, right, point towards cleaning supplies for Luna, left, during a beach cleanup organized by Santa Monica College Sustainability Center at the Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept. 23, 2023. Luna had just finished signing the waiver for the cleanup manned by Gene Collins, who directs her to cleaning supplies located further down the beach boardwalk. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

During a coastal beach cleanup organized by the Santa Monica College Sustainability Center, a group of volunteers gather around supplies that were provided for the cleanup at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept 23, 2023. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Marine biologist and professor at Santa Monica College (SMC) Benjamin Kay and his son Kody poses with two buckets of collected trash during a coastal beach cleanup organized by SMC Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept. 23, 2023. He had been advocating the city of Santa Monica to retrofit the South Pier Outflow Pipe in order to more effectively collect debris and pollution. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Volunteers Drew Cortez, left, and Sabine O'Brien, right, from Westside Ballet Santa Monica sits down to take a break after collecting trash at a coastal cleanup organized by Santa Monica College Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept 23, 2023. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Sustainability manager for Santa Monica College (SMC) Ferris Kawar gives a safety briefing to volunteers at a coastal cleanup organized by SMC Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept, 23, 2023. Ferris explained that while the turnout was bigger than expected, it was still below average compared to previous cleanups before COVID. "It lets the students give back" explained Ferris. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Volunteers Elif Sekman raises her bucket filled with collected trash while holding a pride flag on the other hand during a coastal beach cleanup organized by Santa Monica College Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept 23, 2023. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

A volunteer squatting watches a tractor towing a beach cleaner drive past during a coastal beach cleanup organized by Santa Monica College Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept 23, 2023. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

Marine biologist and professor at Santa Monica College (SMC) Benjamin Kay takes a video of his son Kody dumping a bucket full of collected trash into garbage bin during a coastal cleanup organized by SMC Sustainability Center at The Inkwell, Santa Monica, Calif., on Sept 23, 2023. (Danniel Sumarkho | The Corsair)

As part of California’s Coastal Cleanup Day, Santa Monica College (SMC) hosted a beach cleanup at the Inkwell beach on Sept. 23, where 165 volunteers picked up 118 pounds of trash. Coastal Cleanup Day, hosted by the California Coastal Commission, is the world’s largest volunteer day, spanning over 36,000 volunteers across cleanup sites in California. This year marks the 40th anniversary of this annual event.

This is SMC’s eleventh year running the event at the Inkwell, a historic site for the fight against Jim Crow era racial discrimination. 

Students were encouraged to participate, with some classes offering extra credit opportunities for attending.

“When people come down here and they actually get involved with cleaning the beach, that’s a gateway to changing your lifestyle,” Benjamin Kay, a professor of Life & Environmental Sciences at SMC, said. Kay and his students have been documenting the conditions at this site since 2008. “We know very well that our oceans are filling up very quickly with plastic, and it’s hurting thousands upon thousands of species.”

One of the primary concerns, according to Kay, is a phenomenon called the first flush. After a storm, trash on the streets is swept into storm drains, where it can oftentimes drain directly into the ocean. The Pico-Kenter storm drain, which is at the Inkwell, creates what Kay described as a “conduit from the streets to the sea,” where plastic and other harmful debris pile up.

“I don’t want there to be all this pollution here.” Kay’s 8-year-old son, Cody, said. “And then, in the first flush, all the stuff comes from the gutter. All that comes through here and into the ocean.”

“I feel like it’s the least we can do.” said Ava Belcher, a third year student at SMC. “The materials are provided for you, and you can easily just come.”

“I just wanted to give back to the beach. I use the beach all the time, and there’s always so much trash,” volunteer Kristen Helmberger said.

Martine Harley, from Westside Ballet, has been organizing volunteer groups of dancers to participate in Coastal Cleanup Day for the past 10 years. “It’s a special experience for the dancers, and it helps educate them, although our young generation is already very sensitive to pollution,” Harley said.

SMC hosts this cleanup event annually in collaboration with Heal The Bay and SMC’s Sustainability Center. Later this month, SMC’s Earth Sciences club is participating in a similar cleanup at Venice Beach with SurfLA. The event will be hosted on October 29, 2023.