Volunteers Invited to Join Beach Sweep on Saturday

Everybody is invited to join thousands of other volunteers on Saturday in a collective cleanup of New Jersey's beaches.

The Clean Ocean Action Beach Sweep is set for 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27. In Ocean City, volunteers are asked to stop at the Ocean City Music Pier for clean-up-supplies. All organizations and families are welcome to participate in this annual statewide event to keep beaches clean and safe and to protect the coastal environment.

In 2012, statewide volunteers removed more than 350,000 pieces of debris from New Jersey beaches during sweeps in April and October. Almost 7,000 volunteers were part of the effort.

COA Education Program Manager Tavia Danch said the majority of the debris removed in 2012 was disposable plastics, but COA Executive Director Cindy Zipf said Hurricane Sandy could change the types of items found during Saturday's beach sweep.

"Our beaches have been profoundly altered by Superstorm Sandy," Zipf said. "Dunes and dune grasses are gone. Large debris has piled up along the shorelines and is in our waterways. How these may impact Beach Sweeps may provide some interesting and valuable insights."

Dozens of local Comcast employees and their children, friends and families will volunteer as part of their 12th annual Comcast Cares Day.

Volunteers from Comcast, OCNJ CARE (Clean-up And Recovery Effort) and the World Fishing Network, will plant dune grass and clean debris the beach and dunes to help get Ocean City ready for another great summer. The groups will attempt to plant 5,000 dune grass plugs.

For more information on the Ocean City cleanup, call (609) 399-6111, ext. 9711.