As co-coordinator of Coastal Cleanup Day in San Diego County, one of my favorite parts of the day is returning to the office to see what interesting items are reported from our data cards.

At this year’s Coastal Cleanup Day, our volunteers came back with some memorable ones that I thought the blog world might enjoy:

•    Car hood – Fiesta Island
•    RV port-a-potty – Borderfield State Park
•    Traffic ticket for an open container – Ocean Beach
•    Baby’s devil costume – Tijuana River at Dairy Mart Rd
•    Hello Kitty children’s piano – City Heights (a young volunteer was very excited to acquire this hand-me down)
•    Antique leather football helmet and a mannequin – National City
•    Newspaper stand – San Diego Bay
•    Fake pair of antlers and a Norwegian passport (if anyone knows Stine Grytten Nærum, please tell her to call me) – Pacific Beach
•    Model rocket fuel – Chula Vista, Salt Creek
•    Bag of drugs (found by a troop of girl scouts) – Imperial Beach, South Bay Wildlife Refuge
•    Christmas Tree (in September) – Lemon Grove, Bakersfield Drainage Ditch
•    Model ship – Southcrest Community Park
•    Styrofoam foot with a sandal on it – Vista, Buena Creek
•    Refrigerator door – Otay Valley River Park
•    And of course, the proverbial kitchen sink – Rolando Park, Zena Canyon

Thankfully, our site captains reported less hazardous and electronic waste than in previous years so maybe this means that the message is getting across about disposing of these materials appropriately (maybe?). While it’s sad to think of all the trash in our environment that needs collecting year after year, at least we can find the humor in the world around us and the interesting waste of us crazy humans.