On Saturday, December 8th, Clean Ocean Access held its last beach cleanup of the year at Gull Cove in Portsmouth, RI, best known as a fishing area along the very busy Route 24. Volunteers and community members participated in the cleanup, collecting 145 pounds of debris from the beach located on the northern tip of Aquidneck Island.
The 24 volunteers from the weekend cleanup included students from North Kingstown High School, Navy Supply Corps School and Middletown High School. The volunteers worked diligently to collect trash along the shoreline at Gull Cove, including more than 40 plastic bags, 35 plastic bottles, 18 food wrappers, and 5 fishing lines. This weekend COA welcomed returning volunteers, like Chris Darminio and his son Jason, as well as new faces at the beach cleanup.
“I feel very environmentally conscious. I’m here with my grandson, Kai, and I wanted to make sure he understands and appreciates what we have,” says Ellen Chilabato, who’s been a resident of Portsmouth for 40 years and participated in her very first beach cleanup with COA. “Even if it's doing something small like a cleanup, it’s still a good thing to do.”
“It feels really good to make beautiful places like this a little more beautiful for the people that come after us,” says Liberty Detty, a volunteer with the Navy Supply Corps School.
