Beekman Beach in Oyster Bay adds blue bins for trash pickups along the shoreline
Town of Oyster Bay installed a self-service cleanup station at Beekman Beach. The new station (a wooden pole holding blue shopping bins) can be used by beachgoers to clean up the shoreline. Friday April 11, 2025 Credit: Howard Simmons
Cradled in a wooden receptacle on a pole at Beekman Beach on the edge of Oyster Bay Harbor, blue bins are for the taking. The hope is for beachgoers to pick up trash during walks on the shoreline.
The Town of Oyster Bay, in partnership with the nonprofit Friends of the Bay, installed a self-service cleanup station on the small beach adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park. While beach cleanups are scheduled monthly most of the year, the idea is that in the weeks between, the baskets spur regular maintenance in the community. The town has a second station at Centre Island Beach in Bayville, which opened in September.
“Keeping our beaches clean is an ongoing job,” Christine Suter, director of Friends of the Bay, said in an interview. “There’s a steady influx of debris on the beach — it’s brought in with the tide — and our hope by installing these cleanup stations is that they will promote stewardship of the local environment.”
The new cleanup station is “in the elbow of the bay,” where garbage that is blown in from wind and the tide tends to collect. The beach is well-trafficked and should result in a significant haul, Suter said.
“We just thought it would be the perfect spot for it,” Suter said.
The town collected more than 400 pounds at each of its two cleanup events last year. Suter said the nonprofit collects about 1,000 pounds of trash per year at its cleanups, which yields a litany of items off the shore, from Coca-Cola cans to disposable forks. A member of Friends of the Bay built the station and the town installed it at the beach, Suter said.
Nearby, the WaterFront Center, a nonprofit that runs water-based recreational and educational programs such as kayaking and sailboating, expects to use the new cleanup station as a teaching tool.
“I think the kids [will] see it on the beach and have questions about it,” Cameron Jenness, education director at the WaterFront Center, said of the cleanup stations. “Being able to talk about it and being able to show a solution that the local community is trying to combat it is a really powerful one.”
In addition to the stations at Beekman and Centre Island beaches, a third is expected to open later this month at Soundside Beach in Bayville. Similar stations have been installed throughout Long Island, Newsday has reported.
Last summer, the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy added a station with trash pickers and yellow baskets. The year before, stations opened in Smithtown, and there are a number on the East End, including in Westhampton and Southampton.
Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in a statement the cleanup station “is another important step in preserving Oyster Bay Harbor.”
Cradled in a wooden receptacle on a pole at Beekman Beach on the edge of Oyster Bay Harbor, blue bins are for the taking. The hope is for beachgoers to pick up trash during walks on the shoreline.
The Town of Oyster Bay, in partnership with the nonprofit Friends of the Bay, installed a self-service cleanup station on the small beach adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park. While beach cleanups are scheduled monthly most of the year, the idea is that in the weeks between, the baskets spur regular maintenance in the community. The town has a second station at Centre Island Beach in Bayville, which opened in September.
“Keeping our beaches clean is an ongoing job,” Christine Suter, director of Friends of the Bay, said in an interview. “There’s a steady influx of debris on the beach — it’s brought in with the tide — and our hope by installing these cleanup stations is that they will promote stewardship of the local environment.”
The new cleanup station is “in the elbow of the bay,” where garbage that is blown in from wind and the tide tends to collect. The beach is well-trafficked and should result in a significant haul, Suter said.
“We just thought it would be the perfect spot for it,” Suter said.
The town collected more than 400 pounds at each of its two cleanup events last year. Suter said the nonprofit collects about 1,000 pounds of trash per year at its cleanups, which yields a litany of items off the shore, from Coca-Cola cans to disposable forks. A member of Friends of the Bay built the station and the town installed it at the beach, Suter said.
Nearby, the WaterFront Center, a nonprofit that runs water-based recreational and educational programs such as kayaking and sailboating, expects to use the new cleanup station as a teaching tool.
“I think the kids [will] see it on the beach and have questions about it,” Cameron Jenness, education director at the WaterFront Center, said of the cleanup stations. “Being able to talk about it and being able to show a solution that the local community is trying to combat it is a really powerful one.”
In addition to the stations at Beekman and Centre Island beaches, a third is expected to open later this month at Soundside Beach in Bayville. Similar stations have been installed throughout Long Island, Newsday has reported.
Last summer, the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy added a station with trash pickers and yellow baskets. The year before, stations opened in Smithtown, and there are a number on the East End, including in Westhampton and Southampton.
Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in a statement the cleanup station “is another important step in preserving Oyster Bay Harbor.”
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