Port Jefferson Students ‘Turn the Tide’ on Trash

Earl L. Vandermeulen High School students in the Port Jefferson environmental club and LEO club recently participated in a spirited beach cleanup event at Cedar Beach in Mount Sinai. Led by LISEC environmental club advisor Jonathan Maletta and LEO club advisor Ann MacIntyre, students collected trash, ranging from plastic bottle caps and straws to large-scale construction materials.

“We used an algorithm associated with the Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app to provide an immediate and tangible understanding of how important it is to remove anthropogenic debris from our marine environment,” Mr. Maletta said.

The Clean Swell app indicated that the Port Jefferson clubs removed 328 items of debris weighing 33.3 pounds from the coastal beach area. According to the app, this equated to saving more than seven sea turtles and 15 seabirds on the north shore of the Long Island Sound.