Junk -- possibly coming from North Jersey or even New York -- left a messy situation for crews in one South Jersey shore town to clean up.
Trash ranging from cans to bottles to personal hygiene items and even a large wooden piling washed ashore on parts of Long Beach Island Monday morning, officials said.
Much of the junk washed up in the Ocean County township along with large amounts of eelgrass.
The whole scene was just a bit icky for people looking to enjoy a nice spring day down the shore Tuesday.
“Trash is disgusting, especially trying to find a place to sit down,” said Delran’s Caitlin Mahan. “When we walked down here, we walked about two blocks to find a place that was actually clean.”
Wash-ups like this sometimes happen after big storms and shouldn’t pose any major health risk, health officials say.
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This rubbish possibly came from North Jersey and New York where recent storms caused sewer systems to overflow.
“High tides and storms releases that material, brings it out the rivers, brings it down the coastline and depending on wind-conditions, ends up on our beaches,” said Timothy Hilferty with the Long Beach Island Health Department.
Things like this might happen but that doesn’t mean anyone likes seeing litter on their beach.
“Not something you want to see at all when you’re at the beach,” Mahan said.
If you see junk wash up along your local beach you can do something about it by calling the state Department of Environmental Protection at 877-WARN-DEP.
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