It was another successful cleanup of Coffee Creek Park on Sept. 15, during the annual Adopt a Beach initiative coordinated locally by the Chesterton Stormwater Utility.

And—what everyone wants to know, drum roll please—the No. 1 variety of item collected from Coffee Creek and its environs: cigarette butts and filters.

A total of 290 butts were removed, MS4 Operator Jennifer Gadzala reported at Monday’s meeting of the Stormwater Management Board.

Then: 84 food wrappers or containers; 46 plastic pop bottles; 37 pop cans; 31 cigarette packs; 18 caps and lids; 12 plastic or paper bags; 11 glass bottles; nine stirrers; four cigarette lighters.

And there were some odd items: a broom; a lawn chair; a couple of air fresheners, because Coffee Creek Park isn’t fragrant enough; three toys; two balloons; nine pieces of building material or scrap; and one big hunk of lumber.

Sixteen volunteers collected this trash—65.5 pounds of it—from the creek, along the boardwalk, and from other areas of Coffee Creek Park.

Cupcakes provided to volunteers were donated by Moore Tastries.

Posted 9/18/2012