oddly enough

oddly enough

Rubber brain, birth-control pills, keg among NJ beach trash

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.

A sweep of New Jersey beaches last year turned up the usual seashells, sand castles and seaweed. But plenty of not-so-typical beach items popped up, too, including a keg, birth-control pills and a rubber brain.

And if it sounds as though everything but the kitchen sink was in the sand or surf, a sink was found, too. Toilet bowls, rolls of toilet paper, a rug, a mattress, a vacuum cleaner and a single size-13 sneaker also were found on beaches.

The Clean Ocean Action environmental group conducts volunteer beach sweeps twice each year and tallies the trashy toll to educate – and sometimes nauseate – people about just how careless some folks can be. The trash was either left behind by beachgoers, floated ashore after being tossed overboard from boats, or wound up on the beach after sewer system overflows during heavy storms.

The group released its findings Tuesday, and the list included some head-scratchers, including a full bottle of wine, a beer keg, a bikini, socks, several pieces of underwear and a container of birth-control pills.

Volunteers also picked up half of a torn dollar bill, a pacifier, a pair of baby shoes, as well as a rubber brain. Also found was a stuffed goose head toy animal, a pickle jar, an industrial fan, a sleeping bag stuffed with rags and a vintage Coke bottle.

Some decidedly unsavory items were found, as well, including numerous containers of what appeared to be urine.

“You can’t make this stuff up – the bizarre, the disgusting stuff we’ve found over the years,” said Cindy Zipf, the group’s executive director. “But what is truly disgusting is that many of these are single-use items that are used once and tossed away, and that’s totally unacceptable.”

Last year’s beach cleanups marked the 30th year of the program. In total, volunteers have picked up more than 5.7 million items from the shore over the past three decades.

2 guided-missile containers found bobbing in the Pacific

Two large shipping containers, each stamped with the words “Contains: Guided Missile,” were discovered bobbing in the Pacific Ocean near the southeast Alaska island community of Craig.

Alaska State Troopers said both were empty, and information from tags attached to the boxes was sent to U.S. military authorities.

Troopers were investigating the discovery of one suspicious box Sunday when they got a radio message from a mariner that another one showed up.

Clinton Cook Sr. told Anchorage television he was on a boat that found one of the heavy, hard plastic containers. They were going to pass it but noticed the unusual shape, about 8-feet by 2-feet.

Troopers said an explosives ordinance team helped determine the boxes were “void of their original contents.” Troopers didn’t know any history of the containers.

Associated Press