Letter: Successful clean up after alarming accumulation of litter both on beach and in Lake Tahoe

Clean Up the Lake and The League to Save Lake Tahoe, two leading environmental organizations in the Tahoe basin, have forged a powerful partnership to address the aftermath of extensive littering at Zephyr Cove following the July 4th celebrations. In their second year of partnership for the 5th of July Cleanup, the two organizations led a collaborative cleanup effort where dedicated volunteers successfully removed an astonishing 6,318 lbs of litter from the beach and beneath the surface of the lake.

(View Clean Up The Lake Video Here)

Zephyr Cove, located along the Nevada shoreline of Lake Tahoe, draws in tourists from all over to partake in the July 4th celebrations. However, the morning of July 5th brought disappointment as volunteers encountered an alarming accumulation of litter, both in sizable piles along the shoreline and scattered beneath the surface in 0 to 10 feet of water. The cleanup event was an overwhelming success, demonstrating the power of collective action and the commitment to preserving Lake Tahoe.

“After five years of hosting clean-up events in Tahoe, what we came across yesterday was the worst I have ever seen. Our teams came equipped with trash grabbers but what we found required shovels, rakes, and over 150 large trash bags,” said Colin West, Founder & CEO of Clean Up The Lake. “The cocaine and whip it bottles also made for some of our most interesting finds of the day.”

Other items included endless beer bottles, cans, liquor bottles, towels, shoes, sandals, vape pens, broken beer-pong tables, and more.

"The Zephyr Cove cleanup event is a great example of the positive change we can achieve when like-minded organizations unite for a common cause," said Sadye Easler, director of programs from Clean Up the Lake. “We look forward to creating preventative measures with our Lake Tahoe Litter Summit partners so we aren’t faced with this issue for years to come."

Moving forward, our goal is to create sustainable solutions to prevent issues like these from happening again, and to protect Lake Tahoe for future generations of locals and visitors alike.

For more information about Clean Up the Lake and Keep Tahoe Blue, visit their respective websites at www.cleanupthelake.org and www.keeptahoeblue.org.

Colin West
Founder & CEO
Clean Up The Lake 501(c)3