Why volunteers cleaning up Miami Beach call July 5 the “Dirtiest Beach Day of the Year”

MIAMI — Independence Day festivities attract large crowds to our beaches every year.  But once the fireworks fade and celebrations end, what’s sometimes left behind is a sea of trash.

The Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit organization, calls July 5 the “Dirtiest Beach Day of the Year.” CBS News Miami spent time with local volunteers with the organization to spotlight cleanup efforts in Miami Beach, one piece of plastic at a time. 

What we saw, hidden in the Miami Beach dunes, was a treasure trove of trash buried in the sand.

“It just shows how long it’s been here, with dirt compacting into it,” shared Alicia Maratos with Surfrider Miami, pointing to a beer can she pulled from underneath the tall grass and sand.

Maratos helped a local effort to clean up the beaches.

Last year, 1,300 Surfrider volunteers participated in 30 cleanups nationwide, picking up over 100,000 pounds of trash.

Locally, this initiative inspired more than a dozen volunteers to come to grab a bucket and grab the trash.

“Help out the community since it gets really trashy after July 4,” Angelica Sanchez said.

“If we gain one person who tends to put their trash away after seeing us, I think that tends to go a long way,” added Carson Villa with Surfrider Miami.

“We find a lot of food wrappers in our cleanups,” added Maratos, taking us around a dune by 2nd Street in Miami Beach.

We also saw tons of cigarette butts, glass bottles, a flip-flop, and other debris trapped in the dunes.

“The wind does pick up at some point, affecting marine life,” Maratos said.  “Animals eat a piece of plastic, and it has no caloric value.  It thinks it ate, it didn’t eat, it could starve.”

Preserving beaches for future generations made sweating in the summer sun worth the buckets of trash.

“Honestly, everybody has to do their little part,” added Miami Beach resident Gary Bond.  “I have kids of my own, and I want my kids to be able to enjoy.”

This year’s nationwide cleanup effort extends from the beaches in Maine to the west in California and Hawaii and aims to spread awareness and protect the beaches and marine life.