More trash being found on South Lake Tahoe beaches

Its becoming a concern at beaches and venues around the country: increased trash left behind. Lake Tahoe sees massive amounts of trash on beaches after big weekends, especially the 4th of July, but the basin is not alone.

Headline in North Carolina: Residents upset with beach equipment and other trash left behind on shores.

Headline in Los Angeles: Trash left behind from the Made in America festival in downtown Los Angeles.

Headline in Indianapolis: Trail of trash left behind at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Headline in South Lake Tahoe: Volunteers remove 2,260 pounds of trash from six Lake Tahoe beaches.

In New York in 2014, a march to protest climate change brought 300,000 people to the streets. What was left behind were thousands of pounds of trash on the streets and sidewalks.

In 2015 there has been more trash left on Lake Tahoe's beaches than in 2014, even with increased awareness, increased efforts and publicity of the problem.

The average weight of trash picked up during the League to Save Lake Tahoe's beach cleanups so far in 2015 has been 295.7 pounds per cleanup. Last year's number? 241 lbs.

That is a lot of trash. The biggest culprit, though the lightest, are cigarette butts. In all of 2014 there were 10,525 butts picked up on Tahoe beaches. In the first eight months of 2015 there have been 11,479.

Plastic pieces found on the beaches are also on the rise though the number of plastic bags has fallen since they are no longer given out in South Lake Tahoe grocery stores. Volunteers are finding an average of 20 bags per cleanup, down almost 50% from last year' average of 39.5.

Number of found paper food wrappers left on beaches rose from an average of 144.9 per cleanup in 2014 to 227.8. That is 2,734 wrappers found so far this year.

Glass bottles left behind have dropped, as have cans, but that can be due to enterprising people cleaning them up for the redemption values.

Movie theaters and sporting venues are also seeing an increase in trash left behind on the floor and under seats.

The "Take Care" campaign in Lake Tahoe is a cleanup effort led by the Lake Tahoe Outreach Committee, made up of the Lake Tahoe Sustainability Collaborative, League to Save Lake Tahoe, Tahoe Fund, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Tahoe Resource Conservation District and UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

They have developed a series of signage to attract attention to the growing trash problem on the beaches, trails and forests of Lake Tahoe. One campaign: Keep Lake Tahoe's beaches clean: "Stash It. Don't Trash It."

One may ask why we need such an large effort to educate, and why people can't take responsibility to pick up after themselves.

It is a big problem and one that will probably been seen on Lake Tahoe beaches this weekend after the Labor Day fireworks show.

Again we ask why? People don't give it a second thought when leaving a soda cup or bag of popcorn on the floor of the movie theater, even though there are plenty of trash cans on their exit path.

People don't give it a second though to leaving their beer cups and hot dog wrappers under their seats at a baseball game.

Do litter bugs think that since there are employees hired to keep things clean that it is okay to dump trash at these businesses? Has it become such a habit that they don't think twice?

Let us change this trend on Lake Tahoe beaches and not leave behind cigarette butts, paper wrappers, cans, bottles, and other junk.