Whenever we head out to one of our 11 monthly beach cleanup sites, we never really quite know what we’re going to uncover. Each event tells a different story, and December’s cleanup event at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica turned up some shocking finds. Keep reading to see what they were!

Our 56 volunteers, including students from Hillsdale High School, gathered along the coast on a fairly warm late-fall morning. The wind was calm, and the sun was shining — all the makings of a beautiful and successful day.

Together, our group cleaned up the parking lots, trails and beach and collected:

• 31 pounds of landfill trash
• 12 pounds of recyclables
• 969 cigarette butts (almost 1 whole pound!)

Additionally, our naturalist, Lauren, was on site to explain recycling fiction to our volunteers using an empty Starbucks cup as a prop. Our junior site captains Dylan, Giovanni, Caly and Arjun offered their support checking in volunteers and showcased their leadership skills to help sort trash.

Now, without further ado, the five shocking finds that our volunteers uncovered:

• A wire birdcage
• A fishhook
• A razor blade (which we disposed of safely)
• A creepy doll
• An Apple AirPod (which we reunited with its owner)

We’d be remiss not to mention that the team has been collecting and counting missing dog balls at this site. This month, they found six.

Would you like to join our next cleanup at Rockaway Beach? We always welcome new and returning volunteers. Sign up online and we’ll see you soon.