NORFOLK, Va. — OCEANVIEW – The day after the Fourth of July, residents of Oceanview rolled up their sleeves for a beach cleanup.
After the fireworks concluded, the beaches of Hampton Roads needed attention, littered with everything from discarded water bottles to food remnants.
This week marks National Clean Beaches Week, an annual campaign dedicated to preserving the beauty of coastal areas. On Saturday, Norfolk Park Rangers partnered with the organization Keep Norfolk Beautiful to tidy up Community Beach Park in Oceanview.
“The trash cans are overflowing; everything is blowing down the beaches into the water,” said Sarah Sterzing, one of the cleanup organizers. She noted that the cleanup efforts began early Saturday morning, with the Department of Waste Management in Norfolk already having collected nearly 1,000 pounds of litter.
“They’ve probably picked up close to 1,000 lbs of trash off the beaches before we got here, but we’ve picked up a couple hundred ourselves since we’ve been here,” Sterzing added.
Among the volunteers were Jonathan Lindsay and his grandmother, Lilian Peterson, who reported collecting a significant amount of litter during their efforts.
“Packaging, plastic—we found some bottles, bottle caps, and we saw a lot of smaller fireworks too,” Jonathan said, reflecting on their haul.
Jonathan also highlighted the potential negative impacts of litter on both people and the environment. “People could step on stuff, small animals could eat them and choke. A lot of this stuff could end up in the ocean too,” he explained.
While cleaning up the beach, the duo is also making lasting memories together. “I think it’s nice having something to do, being out here doing something to help, especially alongside my grandmother,” Jonathan noted.
The community's collective effort underscores the importance of keeping coastal areas clean for both residents and wildlife.
