- Trash, including medical waste, washing up on shore on North Padre Island
- Lizzy Wilkins and Holly Ahern have been collecting trash every day
- Residents thought it was from a dredging project
Lizzy Wilkins and Holly Ahern are North Padre Island residents who have been picking up large amounts of trash on the beaches of North Padre Island such as Michael J. Ellis Beach and Seawall.
”Holly and I each hauled out two of the large yellow garbage bags that you can pick up when you enter the beach. And they both weighed probably 40 pounds," Lizzy Wilkins said.
They noticed the major increase in trash washing up right around when the dredging of the Packery Channel started at the beginning of December.
The most surprising thing they have come across while picking up trash is multiple medical needles and syringes.
“Medical waste that’s coming onto the beach is going to harm people that are coming to our beach. It’s harming our community," Wilkins said.
The surplus of garbage washing up on the North Padre Island beaches is not good for the residents or tourism. Wilkins and Ahern were on a mission to find out where all the waste was coming from.
"At the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, we have been conducting weekly beach surveys along large stretches of beaches from North Padre to Matagorda Islands since before the dredging began," Jace Tunnell, Harte Research Institute Director of Community Engagement said.
"We've seen pockets of large amounts of marine debris washing in during certain conditions, including medical waste with medicine bottles, latex gloves, and syringes. While there is probably some marine debris coming from the dredging, the majority is likely from other sources around the country and world due to ocean currents bringing the debris to our beaches," added Tunnell.
The reason a lot of debris washes up on the beaches here in the Coastal Bend is because of the way the ocean currents flow from the Gulf of Mexico.
Regardless of where the waste is coming from, Wilkins and Ahern want to see other people get involved in helping mitigate the trash accumulating on the beaches.
“This seems to be something that we’re not going to fix ourselves by picking up the beach part-time," Wilkins said. "I would really love to see our city council, our mayor, help us address this issue and come up with an ongoing plan for us to keep our beaches clean and keep our communities healthy."
They also advise all beachgoers to pick up after themselves by using a complementary yellow bag that is provided at beach entrances on North Padre Island.
No matter where the debris is coming from, we are very appreciative that community members are willing to help pick up the debris to help prevent marine life from being impacted," Jace Tunnell said.
To participate in sustaining the beaches of the Coastal Bend, click here to sign up for the Coastal Bend's 2024 Adopt-A-Beach Winter Cleanup.
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