Announcement

Green Street: Ocean Pines Yacht Club’s litter warrior

Monday, April 3, 2023

The following appeared in the spring 2023 Ocean Pines Report quarterly newsletter: /documents/20124/91011/OP_newsletter_v55no2_web.pdf/1c689745-6978-787a-9c5d-bcac2b1ff3c3

By the Environment & Natural Assets Committee

When Ocean Pines resident Kevin Doxzen and his wife, Alexa, moved from their South Gate neighborhood to the Colonial Village section of Ocean Pines in 2020, they looked forward to an easy walk to their favorite amenity – the Yacht Club. However, Doxzen soon became concerned about the amount of litter he encountered on his frequent walks around the Yacht Club grounds. 

With its location on the shores of Isle of Wight Bay, Doxzen feared that wind-blown debris from the Yacht Club and the two adjacent pools was polluting the waterway. So, armed with a 5-gallon bucket and a litter picker, Doxzen started picking up trash around the Yacht Club area in fall 2021.

When Patricia Garcia, Environment and Natural Assets Committee member, visited the Yacht Club property in early February with Doxzen, she observed numerous cigarette butts wedged between the patio pavers yards away from the designated smoking area. They both also saw cans and other litter behind the dumpsters and propane tanks, and around the nearby boat launch.

Of particular concern is the plastic waste, especially straws that blow off the pool decks and Yacht Club patios into the Isle of Wight Bay. Plastic pollution is especially dangerous because it does not fully biodegrade in the environment, and wildlife in aquatic and terrestrial environments face hazards from ingesting plastics or becoming entangled in them. Even cigarette butts contain plastic – cellulose acetate – which takes up to ten years to completely degrade.

Doxzen has shared his concerns about litter with the Ocean Pines Association Environment and Natural Assets Committee, and Yacht Club and Ocean Pines Association management. He understands that Yacht Club patrons aren’t deliberately littering and that staffing limitations make it difficult to keep up with the problem. 

The posting of additional “Do Not Litter” signs was requested and we are pleased to note those signs have now been installed. But Doxzen believes more needs to be done.

One solution would be to install knee walls around the Yacht Club and Mumford’s Landing pools to prevent debris from blowing through the current fence pickets into the bay. Pool and Yacht Club patrons might also be encouraged to decline straws with their drinks, or carry their own reusable ones, and bartenders and servers could offer straws only when asked for them. 

An educational effort about the issue might also be helpful. Interested residents could join Doxzen in his efforts to keep the Yacht Club area litter-free or form their own “bucket and picker” neighborhood litter brigades.

Solo walkers could help by taking an empty bag with them to pick up trash they encounter on their routes. Placement of more trash receptacles in key areas might also discourage littering, as long as they are constructed in a manner that prevents people from depositing large household garbage bags in them.

While not all Ocean Pines residents can be expected to put in the time and effort that Kevin Doxzen does, picking up litter in our own neighborhoods is a good place to start.

Announcement

Green Street: Ocean Pines Yacht Club’s litter warrior

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