Town begins trash talk

The Longboat Key Turtle Watch members spend early-morning hours searching for turtle tracks and picking up bits of trash when they see it.

But, lately, volunteers have been seeing more trash than usual.

“We pick up whatever garbage we can,” said Longboat Key resident and Turtle Watch volunteer Larry Grossman. “But, lately — and maybe it’s because of Tropical Storm Debby — we are getting seaweed that’s bringing a large amount of refugee trash ashore.”

Bottles, cans and plastic containers — Grossman and his fellow volunteers have seen it all.

“The amount of debris and trash that has come on the beach, brought in by the seaweed, is becoming unsettling,” Grossman said at the Sept. 4 Longboat Key Town Commission regular meeting.

Just last week, Grossman said he filled up a bag of trash that he could barely lift, and it ended up splitting open on the sand.

Grossman said the trash he and others are seeing is on the wet sand, brought in from tides and seaweed. There is little trash found from visitors on the dry sand.

Grossman asked the town to consider sponsoring a volunteer cleanup, which could also focus on trash in vegetated areas of the beach, such as in the sea oats or dunes near the beach property line.

Town Manager Dave Bullock directed Public Works Director Juan Florensa to look into a Key beach cleanup program similar to the town’s Adopt-A-Road program on Gulf of Mexico Drive, in which various organizations adopt portions of the road and dedicate time to clean the area of trash.

“We could erect signs, for instance, that say, ‘This section of the beach has been adopted by Longboat Key Turtle Watch,’” Florensa said.”

Florensa walked the beach last Friday and noted that trash was not overwhelming; he said the town will discuss a beach-cleanup program and do research with Manatee and Sarasota County officials.

Florensa said town staff could train volunteers how to pick up trash without damaging protected beach vegetation.

Creating such a program, Florensa said, would be beneficial, because the town currently doesn’t clean up trash other than picking up and replacing the trash bags located at the town’s beach access points.

“We don’t have the resources to walk the 10 miles of beach every day looking for trash,” Florensa said.

The town, however, will clean up excess trash and large amounts of driftwood coming ashore if they are perceived to be a safety issue for beachgoers.