Volunteers clean up McCarty’s Cove

MARQUETTE– Friday morning the Superior Watershed Partnership asked volunteers to come out and show some love and care for our Great Lakes.

The organization hosted a Great Lakes Clean up at McCarty’s Cove is apart of the Adopt–a–Beach event. During the clean up litter and data are collected in order to prevent pollution and make positive changes to protect the beaches and coasts.

“Today I brought one of our red buckets that you have probably seen around town, they are to collect cigarette butts. Cigarette butts are actually the most common item that we collect at these beach cleanups and they are not actually from people smoking on the beach,” Great Lakes Conservation Corps Coordinator Emily Goodman said. “They are from people smoking in town and the current taking them directly onto our public swimming beaches.”

Goodman said this happens from cigarette butts being thrown onto sidewalks then falling into the storm drains. Volunteers spent two hours collecting data and waste along the lake shore.