Volunteers take out trash in Island Park

The volunteer organization Operation SPLASH took to Masone Beach in Island Park on June 4, picking up trash, cleaning out old wood and debris found on the marsh across the bay, and making the area safer for swimmers and boaters. Organizer Tommy Asher said that thanks to the organization’s efforts after Hurricane Sandy, and its major cleanup efforts over the past three years, Island Park went from filling 90-yard garbage barges with a full day’s work to filling just half a dump truck in a few hours.

Island Park Mayor Michael McGinty said that 25 volunteers collected about 25 large construction bags full of trash and a full boatload of wood.

The Island Park Department of Public Works helped cart the trash away. Prior to Hurricane Sandy the spring cleanup would fill an average of two barges and several boats. The DPW would need dumpsters on site to collect the trash.

After Hurricane Sandy, Operation SPLASH and other volunteers, in conjunction with VIP SPLASH Waterways Recovery Group, Inc. removed 16,000 yards of debris from the marshes, and raised over 2200 submerged boat, cars and docks.

That effort was paid for by $12 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and contracted by the Nassau County Legislature.

Now the cleanup is more of a maintenance job, but it is just as necessary.