Coastal Cleanup volunteers help local beaches shine

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.-Coastal Cleanup Day coincides with the first day of Fall.

Volunteers up and down the coast picked up trash on Saturday.

It is considered the largest annual volunteer event in California.

They cleaned beaches, rivers, creeks and lakes.

Explorer Ecology's Environmental Education Program Coordinator Veronica Lee called in a win-win for the environment and and people who enjoy the coast.

"It's so important, especially here in Santa Barbara, with our proximity to the Santa Barbara Channel and the Channel Islands, " said Lee, "We get a lot of really amazing and unique wildlife that comes through here. So it's great to make sure that the ocean is clean for the wildlife. All the animals and plants that live in our waterways, and we want to keep our watersheds clean. It benefits not only us, but also everything that's out there."

Most of the volunteers picked up trash from nine until noon.

Some of them weighed the trash so they can get a grand total of the amount collected.

Some are part of groups that clean up beaches on a regular basis.