NJ environmental group plucks ‘bizarre’ finds from state beach shores

• Clean Ocean Action volunteers are preparing for another year of strange discoveries across the state’s coasts.
• In 2023, volunteers collected 176,206 items along New Jersey’s 197 miles of coastline, ranging from mundane debris to bizarre objects.
• Notable finds include a voodoo doll, a whoopee cushion, zip ties, and denture powder.

Jersey Shore beach season is just around the corner. If you remember last year, it’ll soon be time to pack your voodoo dolls, whoopie cushions, zip ties, and denture powder.

These are just some of the strange items plucked from the sand of a New Jersey beach by volunteers from the environmental group Clean Ocean Action last year, according to a report released Thursday by the group.

Nearly 3,700 volunteers picked up and disposed of 176,206 items along the state’s 197 miles of coastline. Much of it was common, sadly commonplace items: bottle caps, cigarettes, bits of plastic.

Mysterious tar ball washes up on New Jersey beach

There are even stranger ones. 50 pound bag of rice. Baby Yoda doll. A severed Barbie doll head. And then there was the flyer. Who would bring a flyer to the beach, let alone leave it behind?

Boxer shorts were also left on the beach. bra. bikini. False eyelashes. Fishnet stockings and jockstrap. I also took a pregnancy test, but the results are unknown.

Cindy Zipp is executive director of Clean Ocean Action, which has been cleaning up beaches at the beginning and end of the beach season since 1985. They have collected about 8.5 million pieces of trash and recycled what can be reprocessed. She called the report “an incriminating list of the worst ways to litter in our region.”

“It’s hard to understand,” she said. “From the quirky to the funny to the downright awful, you can’t make this up.”

Almost 80% of the total shipments were some form of plastic. Bottle caps and lids accounted for more than 13% of the total shipments, followed by food and candy wrappers and bags, other plastic debris, cigarette butts, and more than 10,000 plastic straws and drink stirrers. Ta.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

But for others, it was what could only be described as a headache, especially considering they were left on a public beach.

For example, consider the abundant supply of auto parts. These included the car’s gas tank, four car batteries, a bumper, an air compressor and 24 tires.

At least some beachgoers were taking care of themselves while throwing away trash. Volunteers discovered an electric razor. A container of body hair remover (because there was no place to insert a razor?). Denture cleaning powder. scissors. And a full-length mirror.

There was a dustpan, a Philadelphia Eagles flag, two pots with lids, and a small refrigerator.

And of course, there was food left over. Six pineapples and one coconut, fortune cookies, a can of tuna, and a box of his Valentine’s candy.

That last example proves that Jersey Shore beach cleaning is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get.