SANDY HOOK, N.J.-
What a haul: 20,790 plastic caps and lids, 13,454 cigarette butts, 1,381 toys and 570 shotgun shells.
Those were the most common items in the 21 tons of debris picked up off New Jersey beaches and out of waterways last year during Clean Ocean Action's annual cleanups.
The Sandy Hook-based nonprofit is forecasting a surge in cigarette-related trash this year because of a new indoor smoking ban.
"With the smokers being put outdoors and hanging around these establishments, there's a likelihood more cigarette butts will end up on our streets and sidewalks and washed into storm drains and into our waterways," said Kari Jermansen, outreach director for the Sandy Hook-based nonprofit.
Clean Ocean Action stages the beach sweeps twice a year, marshaling more than 2,500 volunteers from schools, community groups and elsewhere to walk the New Jersey coastline, picking up trash by hand.
In addition to the plastic caps and cigarette butts, thousands of straws, soda bottles, plastic utensils, beverage cans, plastic shopping bags and pieces of glass were collected by volunteers.
This year's spring sweep is scheduled for April 29.
