Hi Joe,
I set out for an invigorating walk along Good Harbor Beach with my friend this morning but upon approaching the beach from Beach Road was assaulted by the pile of trash at the entrance to the footbridge. As I neared the pile I thought, well at least the trash was carried out. But then I started across the bridge and saw the carnage left behind from yesterday. I was disheartened to realize our city is hosting a significant number of people who simply don’t care to keep the beach beautiful for the next wave of beach-goers. The obvious solution is for everyone who enjoys this gem to actually carry out what they carry in; to be responsible for one’s own mess (we put a small dent in the mess by carrying out — all the way home — what we could when we left). Also, it seems that the footbridge at Nautilus Road would be a good spot for one of the new-to-the-city BigBelly Solar Compactors (http://gloucester-ma.gov/index.aspx?NID=425), though I’m not sure if there are plans in place to do this. Sorry to start the day with such an unsavory topic, but with the entire summer ahead of us, I thought some awareness of this scourge might help to stem the problem.
One of the pictures is similar to the GMG masthead picture except the foreground shows many hundreds of sparkling empty bottles littering the sand.
Thanks for helping to keep the city beautiful.
JD Perry
Good Morning Gloucester 
Infuriating and disgusting–the people who do this should be sentenced to living landlocked for the rest of their lives, or until they appreciate the incredible privilege they have been given to be able to live in or near such an incredibly gorgeous place! It makes me so angry to see and hear people complain about and abuse Gloucester! I would trade places with any one of them in a heart beat! There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret leaving Gloucester!
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What a bunch of lazy slobs. It’s not that hard to bring what you came with back out with you. If a trash barrel is overflowing, bring it home or put it in another barrel. STUPID.
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Pure selfishness!
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This is terrible! JD, thank you for busting out what you could carry. I was always taught to pack out every single thing I brought in and leaving beautiful places the same as when you got there (if not bettter). I hope our GMG readership can get the word out that this is unacceptable.
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I feel guilty throwing a scratch ticket back on the ground, that I picked up, (could have been a winner).
Carry in, carry out, then leave it next to your car,in front of my house, and drive away. shivery is a lost art, and so is taking care of your own trash.We that pick up after others, are out numbered.
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Ironically, one group of people, the surfing community via the Surfrider Foundation, is going to come and clean the beach this weekend, yet surfing is banned from the beach. Surfers are for the most part a group who will respect the beach.
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Thank you! If I wasn’t already a supporter of the Surfrider Foundation, I would certainly become one now. Hope everyone appreciates what you are doing. I grew up surfing at Good Harbor. Sorry to hear you’re banned. But thank you for taking care of the beach anyway! Surfers Rule!
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That is a great thing that group is doing, however we as a ‘beach community’ should not have to rely on great groups like that to have to clean our beaches for us.. The people that started this stupid Carry In Carry Cut thing should be ashamed of themselves. What is cheaper, a few barrels on the beach, or having to pay a crew EVERY SINGLE DAY to clean up after the slobs that make our beach look like this. Touchy subject I know, but I have not seen one good thing come from that stupid Carry In Carry Out policy, and I am at the beach all the time. Tourists and kids especially from out of town could care less about it. How many years have they tried it now? – Guess What guys? – IT’S NOT WORKING!!!
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I agree!
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I actually have told a woman who had children not to throw her trash on the beach, she turned to me and said “I do not live here, I live in Wakefield”, so the mouth that I am told her I will bring the trash and dump it on her front lawn. It did embarrass her and hopefully her children do not follow in her footsteps..
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sounds like japanese
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I rode by on my bike last night and was absolutely appalled! I have NEVER seen Good Harbor look as ugly as that! I agree with the above, a Solar Trash barrel would be an excellent idea. I seem to also recall that during a majority of the year there is a barrel at the end of the footbridge (typically overflowing) that the dog walkers fill with poo bags. Where did that go? Can we give the beach going public a place for trash rather than a carry in/out option? I’m sure that idea has already been abused or Hiltz can’t keep up with disposing of the mess. The concession stand must have trash….Could the life guards simply remind folks on occasion about the trash as they prowl te beach? They must see it going on as well and they still went home….I just hope we can prevent that eyesore from occurring all summer. Hope it didn’t all go out with the tide either.
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Not a good trend. Try commuting on Rt 128, it resembles a third world country highway. If you see some ignorant slob littering, call them out on it. Then fire a harpoon through their car door…
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i stepped on a piece of glass last year and cut the arch of my foot wide open.
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In this case, it wasn’t a few who ruined it for the bunch. It was the bunch…..so sad & infuriating!
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I am saddened to see the pictures of the trash. I live in North Attleboro and I absolutely love Good Harbor as do many people I know…How do we make it so everyone throws away there trash properly? Scarborough Beach gives every car a small trash bag and one is responsible to bring out the trash that they make!!!! Just a thought.
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Absolutely vile! Have someone patrol and hand out tickets. Then ban the pigs from the beach so the rest of us can enjoy.
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I carry the plastic bags from the grocery store when I go out with my grandkids and they help pick up trash. I have them wear rubber gloves and they are not allowed to pick up broken glass. We usually fill one or two bags with trash that slobs leave behind.
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I’m sorry to say that it’s not just the tourists who litter. All you have to do is look around the city. There’s litter EVERYWHERE, all year round. I’m constantly picking up empty nips, lottery tickets, DD cups on my street (no “tourists” cutting up Grove St. by Oak Grove Cemetery!) And cigarette butts? Don’t get me going. Too late. The problem is totally solved by taking “personal responsibility” for proper disposal of your own trash. Maybe the tourists don’t give a $hit because they look around and think “hmmm. The townies don’t care, why should I?”.
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This happens all the time during beach season!. While I think carry in carry out is a wonderful concept and it tends to work while you are hiking in the White Mts, it simply has not and will not work at Good Harbor Beach! Take a drive up to Hampton Beach NH and see how a beach is run!
They have trash containers with covers, one of the cleanest beaches I have seen around, first class restroom, shower and changing facilities, and a town DPW that works 7 days a week in season to keep the beach spotless and pick up trash. What a novel idea! And their beach is 10 times bigger than Good Harbor so a much larger area to police.
The solution is to have numerous trash receptables with covers or the solar compacters (good idea) available at all entrances, in the parking lot and exits and along the rear dunes every couple hundred feet for them to have a place to dispose their trash. Some people are slobs in general and still won’t use them, but for the rest of us who care about the beach we will have a place to conveniently place our trash and recyclables.
I actually do carry in carry out myself and don’t have a problem with it, but obviously a lot of people do no matter what you tell them.
Unfortunately, the rest of the city is just as filthy! What we really need is a full time litter patrol to clean up after these slobs who just don’t care. Every day I take a walk through town and pick up a bag full of trash in my neighborhood alone. The next day it is back again!
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I couldn’t agree more Peter…Carry In, Carry out is great in theory, but realistically it will never work. Some people are lazy, some people could care less, and some are both….WE NEED THIS – “The solution is to have numerous trash receptables with covers or the solar compacters (good idea) available at all entrances, in the parking lot and exits and along the rear dunes every couple hundred feet for them to have a place to dispose their trash.”….I know for a fact that if there were more trash cans at the beach, I’d be more inclined to pick up others trash just to keep our beach clean.
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Why can’t there be a law against this travesty which would allow (the police anyway) as well as citizens to photograph the culprits and perhaps show the pictures here? Sounds probably as if it’d be illegal…
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100% agree. I scare my kids when they throw something on the ground…i tell them that the beach will dry up and there will be no more water for them to play in. It works for the most part.
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In the last few years (i come for the summer to stay with family) i have noticed its getting a little worse at the beach. I know that it sucks and the smell of stinky garbage is the worst, but trash cans and recycle barrels can go a long way. Maybe a fundraiser to save Good Harbor? If it continues to get worse how will it look in the years to come?
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We all need to simply call people on their poor behavior. I just moved back her after 20 years away and couldn’t believe the amount of trash that is everywhere – along the roads and in open spaces. It’s so sad that people have no pride in these beautiful surroundings. I for one would gladly support more trash and recycle bins – everywhere!
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Front beach in Rockport has a solar trash compacter. When I was a little boy, my mother said Never Litter. I never have.
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The Carry In Carry Out program was started 13 years ago. The Clean City Commission volunteers worked tirelessly putting it together with $750 from Waste Management. We hung the signs, Bob Viau painted the murals, we changed the contract for the concession, we worked with the high school having a nacksack program, we held art shows for the k-5, we cleaned the beaches and still do almost daily even in the winter. The Clean City Initiative (which is me) keeps the garden and so on and so on. This is a 1.9 million dollar business perhaps over now, the city needs to do their part. The CCC had 10 things the city said they would do and the most important one tell the people when they take their money is still not being done. Two shifts to tidy up the beaches didn’t make the cut either. Once one person puts something down it could be a napkin the rest will follow and before you know it there is a pile. We had 40 barrels on the very small beach ( the beach on Martha Vineyard I took this from is 4 times larger) and the only answer was more barrels, bees, rats, and overflowing barrels was the best we could do. My main goal is for a clean city and if the city did what was asked of them I do think that the program works. Thank you for your comments we all want a clean city. Patti Amaral Clean City Initiative
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Patti, your efforts are appreciated (by some), but obviously this idea is not working here in Gloucester.. 13yrs in and the beach still looks like this.. Time to try a different approach.
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That’s a disgrace! Our beautiful beach(s) should be respected more. Yes a solar trash can would be great there. There is one at the Boulevard, which I have used many times. Everyone should be more respectful.
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I was raised to leave a place better than you found it, whether it be a beach, picnic area or campsite. Gloucester needs to invest in the bigger solar trash cans. Niles beach has nothing and it’s disgusting. On my morning walk I come home with all kinds of booze bottles! Wonder what my neighbors think? The pictures posted are a disgusting reminder of a society that is shirking personal responsibility. Thank you to the individuals and groups that make the effort to keep place litter free! Maybe we should pass out those left over plastic grocery bags to beach goers and then have trash cans by all exits. Oh and the DPW would have to empty those cans regularly.
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What is wrong w/people???? Do they leave trash like that outside on their lawn or any other area around their house??? I think NOT. Makes me sick to see the beach look like that. I can guarantee that if I was at another beach and there was no receptacle to put my trash in, I’d be bringing it home w/me(as I do every time I go to Good Harbor). On Sundays people go as far as putting their trash in resident barrels that are out for p/u on Monday, how do you stop this? Residents have to PAY for stickers to put their garbage out. So what happens when you put your trash out, on Sunday all closed up and you wake up Monday morning to see it overflowing w/other peoples trash just sitting on top of it? Its the resident who won’t get their trash picked up because of complete morons who feel they don’t need to take their trash w/them. Also, could someone in Gloucester tell me why there are receptacles for dog poop 8 months out of the year but cannot figure out how to put TRASH receptacles on the beach? The city needs to step up and do something. The summer has only started and as you can see, it hasn’t started off too well for Good Harbor.
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Allison, I was just writting what you have posted. There are a community of people who know the city trash pickup routes and times and abuse it. When I was working the Visitor center on Sunday mornings a couple years ago several cars (of senior citizens) would actually “meet-up” outside, park in the visitors spots, open the car trunks, deposit their trash in the barrels then walk about the park. when I challenged one which I knew from the wharf, who drove a nice car, they openly said they’d never buy one of those ugly bags, they are a disgrace. I was stunned and wondered where did that come from.
http://www.philadelphiacontroller.org/publications/other%20reports/BigBellyReport_7-12-10.pdf is a report on the BigBelly Machines. A Massachusetts company by the way.
These machines, do they cost about $3200.00 I’d be willing to chip in. How much would you pay to not step on a piece of glass?
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We absolutely need to call those people out! I got into a “discussion” with someone a few years ago at Niles Beach. Parked without a sticker AND tried leaving her trash.
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The other night Gloucester High schools NHS students went and cleaned for hours .When they were done they had a mound of trash.The students couldnt believe this was just from 1 day .I to believe everyone needs clean up their own trash and cant believe poeple really think its someones elses problem.
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The problem is they don’t think.
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Well said JD!
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Disgusting! One of my favorite things to do during a trip to the beach in the summer is walk the beach with whomever I am with that day. Over the past few years it’s seems my walks have turned into trash picking. I just can’t step over it and leave it to wash into the ocean. Even my 7 & 10 year old daughters are saddened by the way our beaches and city are cared for. Something needs to be done!
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