The League to Save Lake Tahoe’s 320+ resident-volunteers picked up 1,676-pounds of garbage off Lake Tahoe, CA/NV’s beaches on July 5th, 2017.

July 5th, 2017 was the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s (Keep Tahoe Blue) 6th year of doing this 5th of July beach clean up.

They cleaned 5.6 miles of Lake Tahoe beaches and trails.

THE LEAGUE TO SAVE LAKE TAHOE STATEMENT

July 6th, 2017

“Over 320 residents and visitors gathered yesterday to clean 5.6 miles of Lake Tahoe beaches and trails, collecting 1,676 pounds of litter in cooperation with land managers and local businesses at cleanups organized by the League.

Volunteers joined the League at six meeting spots to help clean up litter from some of the hardest-hit beaches. These cleanups support those land managers who have cleanup staff and fill an even more critical gap for those who have none.

As a science-based, solutions-oriented organization, the League and its volunteers gather detailed statistics on the types of litter found to better advocate for solutions. This year, the top trash items removed were cigarette butts (5,242) and plastic pieces (6,357) — plastic pieces includes plastic bottle caps, straws and polystyrene pieces. Volunteers also collected over 1,100 food wrappers.

Plastics, including cigarette filters, not only pose a risk to Lake Tahoe’s ecology and wildlife, they do not biodegrade in the environment. This year, the League is excited to ship every cigarette butt and piece of hard plastic we collected to TerraCycle to be recycled in the U.S. into new products.

The League is grateful to our partnering land managers, including the California Land Management, California State Parks, Official City of South Lake Tahoe, Tahoe City Public Utility District, and the U.S. Forest Service – Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. Our cleanups are made possible by the support of our cleanup site sponsors, local Tahoe businesses: Alpenglow Sports, Brand Geek, Lakeview Cafe, MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa, and RnR Vacation Rentals.” – The League to Save Lake Tahoe