Photos: Volunteers Pick Plumb Beach Plum Clean

Dozens of volunteers gathered at Plumb Beach today to help clean up debris and garbage that accumulated in the wake of Hurricane Irene last month. Some of the trash was also left behind by inconsiderate beachgoers and others on the stretch of beach near the Belt Parkway rest stop, east of Knapp Street.

Most volunteers were bussed to the site, courtesy of the New York City branch of the Audubon Society, which hosted the cleanup along with Don Riepe, director of the Northeast Chapter of the American Littoral Society.

Among the items picked up and placed in trash bags to be picked up at a later time were glass and plastic bottles, cigarette butts, pieces of environmentally-unsafe Styrofoam cups and containers, and food and candy wrappers. One of the largest and oddest items found was an old, abandoned 16-inch television set.

An injured possum was spotted on the beach before cleanup began, and a few brave, humane volunteers placed it in a box and moved it to a safe area before calling an agency to have the animal removed.