On Saturday, September 16th, 2023, from 9:30 am to 12 pm, volunteers from AYLUS Oakland Gardens participated in the 38th New York Beach Clean-Up. We worked together with other volunteers and Mike Kuchinskas, from Alley Pond Park, to clean up our beach in Little Neck Bay, where it acted as a habitat for the geese and swans.
The seawater was polluted to the point where it was black and filled with waste that washed ashore. We worked with everyone else today to clean our beach by picking up the waste that was washed ashore. There was a variety of waste from multiple plastic food containers to bottles, lids, plastic food wrappers, and plastic bags. We estimate that we successfully picked up a total of over 60 plastic wastes. However, there was more garbage washing ashore onto the beach. We also found some waste that were used to prevent transmitting diseases and personal hygiene. Such waste are tampons, condoms, and gloves. We also found dead animals on the beach. As we were cleaning the beach today, we found a piece of metal stuck in the sand. Wanting to get the metal out, we tried to dig it out, only realizing that it is a huge piece of metal. At first, we thought it was a ladder, however, as we continued to dig, we realized the shape of the metal wasn’t that of a ladder. We were racing against the tide, trying to get the piece of metal out. Near the end, we were close to completely unearthing it from the sand, however we ran out of time as the tide rushed in.
Although we filled bags upon bags with waste, we are not done keeping our beach clean. We are looking forward to the next time we have this, as we will be able to make our beach a bit cleaner, as well as removing the piece of metal out of the beach, as it can gravely injure someone. While we are making our beach cleaner, we are also making the place where wildlife can live cleaner and be protected from pollution.
Our Volunteers:
Jia Qi Liu (Angela): 2.5 hours
Susan Yang: 2.5 hours
Jessica Lin: 2.5 hours
Aiden Lin: 2.5 hours
Brandon Lin: 2.5 hours
Anthony Lin: 2.5 hours
Vicki Li: 2.5 hours
Sophia Shi Han You: 2.5 hours
Hong Hao Liu (Alfred): 2.5 hours
Colleen Chen: 2.5 hours
Darren Chen: 2.5 hours
Stephanie Shi Lan You: 2.5 hours
Report by Jia Qi Liu (Angela), Andy Chen, Jessica Lin, Susan Yang