Treasures of Oz Leaves South Beach 58 Pounds Cleaner

Not only did four hardworking teams shed a few ounces during Saturday’s South Beach cleanup, but the Port Washington beach is now 58 pounds cleaner thanks to those efforts.

Each team discovered creative ways to locate debris hidden in the seemingly clean sands. One team even adventured into the brush to collect bits of items blown into the shrubbery.

"It was shocking that we picked up so much trash from a pristine beach,"coordinator Marjie Tomter said. Teams just kept picking things up and writing items down.

South Beach was one of many beaches adopted for the “World’s Largest Cleanup” coordinated through Alliance for the Great Lakes.  All sites report their logged items, which the Alliance uses for pollution prevention and educational purposes.

This is part of an initiative to clean up the beautiful Great Lakes shores and keep the waters safe and clean. This hits at the heart of the Treasures of Oz purpose of celebrating and protecting the interconnected resource Ozaukee has.

Water has been a rallying point for the over 30 partners in Treasures. The lake affects the rivers, rivers the watersheds, which extends to the bogs. It is all connected and each is important to the wildlife and eco-recreation in the county.

So who one the cleanup contest?

We all did!