This past weekend the CannabaX team was invited to Oregons annual Agate Beach Surf Contest. We set up our booth of Organic Surf Wax, hats and shirts and connected with the competition community.
As the contest was being held some of us branched away from the booth with an Oregon State Parks Ranger to "sand sift". Sand sifting is a common beach clean up technique where you use a screening tool- usually wood framed with a double walled window screen stapled to the frame to sift sand and filter out garbage contents within the sand.
As we walked around with the Ranger we worked together to sift different areas of Agate Beach. We would hold the sand sifter as the Ranger shoveled sand into the screen then we would shake the tool to free the sand and expose the remaining garbage pieces. This was quite eye opening as pieces of rope, plastics, bottle tops and many more small pieces of waste were being exposed and discovered.
Through this experience we had learned that the real pollution on beaches is hidden within the contents of the sand. Out of eye sight and out of mind; we believe that micro-plastics are the most dangerous source of pollution on our beaches due to their hidden attributes. From a glimpse of the top layer of any beach it may look clean and attractive, but take a couple of scoops of that sand and sift it through your hand and fingers and quickly see the hidden sea of garbage living within the sand.
We are happy to hear that most Oregon State Park Rangers sand sift while on duty patrolling beaches and hope that this practice becomes a bigger thread between the Parks and Recreation employees and civilian volunteers who build these sand sifters to help fight our micro-plastic epidemic.
Please remember- Always leave the beach BETTER than you found it. It's a philosophy toward a clean sustainable beach and earth.
-Brandon