Museum of Litter

Sanibel Island, FL: The water's fine. Come on down.

Happy to report hardly any litter and no oil as of July 26. Sanibel Island beaches are pristine.

Didn't do much litter picking on Sanibel ...not much there. Mostly, played tourist and rode bikes in preserve and bike paths. I LOVE Sanibel. They've done a fabulous at preserving the natural environment of Old Florida. Last morning there I intended to pick up enough cigarette butts from the beach to make an angel. It takes about 12 butts to make a cigarette butt angel and I couldn't find enough. A good sign!

FOUND: Chase Debit Card

Found debit card belonging to Tashiana L Bohm today in the sand on Lauderdale by the Sea, FL beach.

Card was turned in to Chase, 5055 N. Dixie Hwy, Oakland Park, FL 33334 to Financial Center Manager Joan A. Walker. Hope you get it Tashiana before you have to cancel and get a new card. Hope this has a happy ending for you.

FOUND: a Lost Wallet in Naples, FL

We found this wallet in the road in front of a Shell Station in Naples, FL. We'd stopped for gas and noticed a man grabbing fistfulls of money from the street while dodging traffic on a three lane highway. We saw and retrieved the wallet but weren't sure where to turn it in so continued on to the Fort Lauderdale area.  There was no money left in the wallet, but among the important documents there was a driver's license, social security card, and a AAA card.

It belonged to a 16 year old named Peter. During the drive across Alligator Alley, I tried finding the owner thru Whitepages.com, Facebook and Twitter to no avail because he has a common last name.We called AAA, gave the account number and waited while the customer service rep looked for a  contact number. There was none for Peter, but she found one for a Linda that appeared by age to be his mother. The rep called but got a "mail box full" message. When I got home, I again tried Whitepages.com now that I had the name LInda. Bingo! I found the phone number and luckily Peter answered. He let out a happy hoot when he heard we had his wallet and all his ID. We were just glad to be, as Linda remarked, "In the right place at the right time." I was accused by someone of being a good samaritan, as if it were a bad thing. I just don't understand that thinking, but will own up to being a chronic do-gooder because it makes me feel good.

Litter Donations from July 4, 2010, Lauderdale by the Sea, FL beach

Here are pictures of the litter left behind from the 4th of July festivities.

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It was rainy all afternoon and evening of the 4th, with intermittent scattered thunder storms, so there were not a lot of beach-goers for sun or fireworks. I picked up only four bags worth of litter this morning from behind Aruba, Anglin's Pier, Oriana and south to the Datura Portal.

Lauderdale by the Sea has a contract with a beach raker that combs the beach and picks up most of the debris. However, the equipment doesn't go to the water's edge and they are not set up to separate the recyclables. So, I concentrate on picking up litter at the shoreline (to prevent it from joining the Atlantic Garbage Patch); the recyclables and broken glass. I leave the rest for the raker; especially the fireworks, some of which did not detonate.

Of the four bags worth of litter I gathered, one bag was trash, two bags were recyclables and the fourth bag was my 'pick of the litter' to add to the Museum of Litter's collections.