Helping to clean up litter at Fourchon Beach, in Lafourche Parish, are Jonathan Triggs (left), 9, and British Major, 6. The two were participants in the recent Great Louisiana Beachsweep/Inland Waterway Cleanup.

WHAT DO COCONUTS, A BOTTLE of toilet bowl cleaner labeled in Spanish, and a Louisiana Lottery scratch-off ticket worth $2 have in common? They were all collected on Louisiana beaches or along inland waterways during this year's Great Louisiana Beachsweep/
Inland Waterway Cleanup.

"We always seem to find some very unusual items," explains Barbara Coltharp Kalivoda, Coordinator of the Louisiana Pride program and State Coordinator of Beachsweep. "That's just one of the reasons why Beachsweep is so much fun."

"If our programs are successful in changing citizens' attitudes about litering, we will begin to see cleaner waterways and highways, and we will have a greater pride in this state we call home."

Fun, and rewarding as well. Just ask Kalivoda, who spends months collecting data from the current year's program and planning for bigger and better programs in the years ahead. Her objective is a litter free Louisiana, and looking at results from this year's cleanup, all her planning and hard work appear to be paying off. On Saturday, September 18, 6,810 volunteers from across the state swarmed onto 186 miles of Louisiana beaches and inland waterways and picked up over 245,000 pounds of garbage. Compared to 1991 -- the last year the program had such a high level of participation -- the 1993 data indicate that our beaches and waterways are getting and staying cleaner. There simply was not as much trash for volunteers to pick up this year.

And it is that kind of success that keeps companies such as Mobil Oil coming back to the beach every year, equipped with hot dogs, hamburgers, and garbage bags the company donates for all Beachsweep volunteers. This year, Governor Edwin Edwards served as Honorary Chairman of Beachsweep, and Mobil Oil's Jim Abercrombie and DEQ Secretary Kai Midboe served as Co-chairmen. Abercrombie and about 500 Mobil employees set up shop early Saturday morning on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, which was the day's busiest beach with a total of over 1,400 volunteers cleaning up.

"The Great Louisiana Beachsweep is a success because of everyone's support and drive to make it happen," Abercrombie says.

In southwest Louisiana, over 1,300 volunteers descended on Rutherford Beach in Cameron, forming the state's second largest contingent of Beachsweep volunteers. Fourchon Beach, in Lafourche Parish, was also a popular cleanup site where just over 1,000 people volunteered. There, students from area schools, as well as oil and gas companies, have gotten involved not only in cleaning the beach, but also in preventing offshore garbage from washing up as litter on our shores.

"Beachsweep helps keep the beach clean for a little while but it also makes people aware of protecting our environment. That's where it really pays off," says Tommy Eymard, the Fourchon Beachsweep Coordinator for M-I Drilling Fluids, which participated in the cleanup for the first time this year. "The kids and the families were all really happy to be involved, and they all had a good time."

Such a good time, in fact, that Eymard says his group of 70 volunteers will do it again next year. The company is now looking into adopting a section of the beach to clean periodically throughout the year.

Cleaning the beaches also offers volunteers the opportunity to come across some very interesting articles among the ordinary refuse of paper, plastic, and glass. In Ouachita Parish, one group found a complete Michael Jackson outfit, including one glove. Meanwhile, on the Grand Terre barrier island, volunteers picked up an international soda pop can.

"Finding these things does make you chuckle, and then you have to step back and think about how and why these things end up here instead of a trash can," Kalivoda says. "That's when you realize that it's all a matter of changing people's attitudes about littering."

That is the thrust of not only Beachsweep, but all of the Louisiana Pride projects. In July 1993, Kalivoda's Office of Litter Reduction and Public Action moved from the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism to the DEQ Office of Solid and Hazardous Waste. The thrust of the multi-faceted Louisiana Pride program is to raise litter awareness.

Many of the projects, such as Beachsweep, enlist volunteers to attack litter problems at various sites, while other projects enlist local government officials to develop their own community wide litter-awareness programs. Some of the Louisiana Pride activities include Keep America Beautiful, Louisiana Litter Watch, Trash Bash, Boater's and Fisherman's Pledge, No Butts About It, PALS (People Against Littering) grassroots committees, and the Adopt-a-Road and Adopt-a-Beach programs.

Participation has mushroomed. For instance, the Adopt-a-Road program grew by 14 percent in 1992 -- with 1,405 miles now adopted by various organizations across the state -- and 81 Interstate miles have been adopted by 16 sheriffs. In addition, over 16,000 people participated in 327 cleanups during the 1992 Great Louisiana Trash Bash, picking up over 1,600 tons of trash and debris.

While the program's educational efforts have made people aware of the litter problem that exists, stricter enforcement of the state's litter laws is needed. Currently, DEQ is in the process of hiring a special consultant who will work with parishes to develop effective antilitter enforcement programs. Such programs would deter people from littering and ensure that roads are periodically cleaned.

"Litter reduction is important if we want to see Louisiana for the beautiful state that it is," Kalivoda explains. "If our programs are successful in changing citizens' attitudes about littering, we will begin to see cleaner waterways and highways, and we will all have a greater pride in this state we call home."