Crap on the beach

Again, I think trying to educate people as to what is/what is not acceptable would go a long way.

While it would be a massive printing project, the TDC could place flyers in every single rental unit in the county outlining beach do's and dont's.

OR the owners and rental agencies could take the initiative and do something similar.

Either way, I agree with all on this issue. It's a big problem that is getting worse.

imo, a more pragmatic approach would be to place notice at beach entrances.

imo, a more pragmatic approach would be to place notice at beach entrances.

True. But I think they would go largely unread, plus the folks who stay gulf front would use their own private walkway.

I think the rental agencies could go a long way toward solving this problem. Of course, they would have to give a damn first, which they don't.

Maybe the state and/or the county needs to adopt the old "Leave only footprints" campaign from the 1970's.

I agree that signs and flyers alone won't do it. It will take a few years of enforcement for it to become accepted fact that it is not allowed. Once all the rental agencies and owners know it as a fact it will get passed on to renters in a few different ways.

I like the idea of notices left for a "warning" on the articles themselves, at least for the 1st year or 2 of enforcement, before items are removed by patrols. Items removed by officials, or "donated" to a private group will leave a very bad taste in visitor's mouths that the TDC is not going to do without pressure. Paying patrols to remove items would also take away from advertising capiital which is hard to make happen.

The good news is that Rosemary Beach, WaterColor, WaterSound, etc. have signs up AND they enforce the rules on their beaches. As our beaches get more and more popular, people will have easier access to beach services instead of worrying about bringing or buying their own stuff. The problem is that items have gotten cheaper to buy, use a week, and throw away than to rent.

Now I know why I feel so smug when I go to the beach and take a towel or sheet, a container of frozen water and nothing else.
(I refuse to buy bottled water because it just adds more plastic to the landfills and tap water is no less healthy.)

Watching tourists take 50 pounds of junk to the beach is always good for a laugh. When they're too lazy to pack it up daily, I think that "liberating" the structures is justified.

When I was growing up and one trekked to Seagrove it usually meant a quarter mile or more slog through the sand dunes. In August that could be brutal. Especially if your car got stuck in the dirt roads. I guess we knew even then it couldn't last forever.

Seems like every year that passes this situation just gets worse.

My idea would be for the commissioners to pass an law that says "everything that is left unattended on the beach after 8pm is FREE for the TAKING"...stick that on a flyer and put it in the rentals--PROBLEM SOLVED! :cool:

It is free for the taking after dark. I do not think we need another law. The people just need to start seeing the stuff go bye bye! :cool:

Are you talking about the beach services? I see beach chairs and umbrellas up all the time by the beach rental set up companies in off season. Seems if this is the law, the people who do business in the area should be fined and accounted for who leave their goods on the beach at night as well.

In LBI- a barrier island off the Jersey shore, they pay for beach raking every day. Anything left on the beach gets disposed of and carted away early in the am.

"I wasn't lost, I just didn't know where I was for a few weeks. What I had lost (at least for a while) was my appetite for the life I had left: city surroundings, old friends, familiar comforts. It had occurred to me that comfort was only a disguise for what will always change." -- Gretel Ehrlich - The Solace of Open Spaces

-love that quote sj-

crazy about that quote, gretel comes to mountainfilm every year. she's a great lady.

Are you talking about the beach services? I see beach chairs and umbrellas up all the time by the beach rental set up companies in off season. Seems if this is the law, the people who do business in the area should be fined and accounted for who leave their goods on the beach at night as well.

In LBI- a barrier island off the Jersey shore, they pay for beach raking every day. Anything left on the beach gets disposed of and carted away early in the am.

The beach service companies do not leave items out overnight. Beach raking is not believed to be an environmentally sound practice.

The beach service companies do not leave items out overnight. Beach raking is not believed to be an environmentally sound practice.

Not entirely true Kurt. I have been on the beach at 10-11 pm many times during off season and chairs and umbrellas are still there in my neck of the beach. Not to mention kayaks and other beach paraphenalia under the beach walk overs.

Was not aware of the effects of beach raking, but I suppose recreational vehicles, sea walls etc. have no effect? ;-)
Sand raking effects on barier islands require more investigation on my part, but it is only done a couple days of the week, and 8 weeks of the year. The area where it is done is only where people go on the beach. The rest of the area is protected pine barrens and a dedicated widlife reserve that is oceanfront and on the bay.

There is no need to rake the beach here, but we could use the guys who clean up the crap, eg - chairs, tents, umbrellas, towels, coolers, toys, etc.

Jfunn and I furnished our Mexican Hideaway porch at Patrone's with stuff people left on the beach in Seagrove overnight. So if you have chairs that went missing in 01'...we stole them. And used them all summer.

It is free for the taking after dark. I do not think we need another law. The people just need to start seeing the stuff go bye bye! :cool:

I believe this is the only way to stop people from leaving their junk on the beach, what better education for these idiots. I have never seen beach junk left on the beaches in J'ville, St George, etc. I wonder how they control this problem? Our problem is only getting worse and I also saw that huge hole Kurt referenced and they were using it to STORE their beach stuff!! :pissed: This is just plain ridiculous.

my beach cleaner design is coming along quite nicely - can be set to only get surface stuff like cig butts and the like (leaving everything else behind for beach building) or go up to 2 1/2" deep for buried bottles and punji sticks - the big problem to overcome is how do you know what's seaweed, sticks and shells (leave behind) or fireworks parts, used condoms and bird poop (take away) - everything else is about height and weight and is working ok

you will still need a gang of workers to load the busted tents, coolers, etc onto the truck that the beach cleaner is dragging behind so you can even go down the beach to clean it - i suppose i could move it up front on the truck and make it like a snowplow! 😱