OCEAN GROVE - Armed with plastic buckets and garbage bags, volunteers spread out on the Ocean Grove beach early Saturday morning, in search of all types of trash.
"We've got to do a better job of stewarding this planet," said Ocean Grove resident Mike Goldstein. "Microplastics are a huge problem. We are killing ourselves."
Pulling aside a clump of seaweed, Goldstein quickly found six small pieces of plastic embedded there. He scooped them up and put them in a bucket.
Goldstein was one of nearly 4,000 volunteers who came out on a chilly morning to remove trash from 60 beaches and park areas up and down the coast. They were part of a cleanup crew that participated in Clean Ocean Action's annual spring Beach Sweeps.