East Hampton Village To Try Removing Litter Bins From The Beach

Red party cups, paper plates and other litter that overflows from garbage bins on the beaches have been jeopardizing the health of animals and the environment, some say.

Next spring, East Hampton Village plans to try a new strategy—removing the garbage bins from one of its beaches.

“A pilot program will take place within the footprint of the village beaches at some point next year,” Mayor Paul J. Rickenbach Jr. said at a Thursday, November 2, Village Board work session. “To be determined are the dates and the location.”

The plan is to remove the bins from one of the three village beaches at Two Mile Hollow, Georgica or Main Beach. The mayor added that garbage bins will not be removed from the parking lot or the road’s end.

Board members spoke in support of the pilot program and agreed to move ahead with it.

“We should adopt a policy similar to the national parks—what you bring in, you take out,” said Richard Lawler, a Village Board member.

Garbage bins seem to overflow at nighttime after beach parties, Mr. Lawler pointed out. Board members noted that overflowing garbage bins also attract unwanted animals.

Previously, the village tried to address the issue by adding more frequent garbage pick-ups. “We thought this was the time to do it,” Mr. Lawler said of the new strategy. “We’ll see if it works or if it doesn’t work.”

According to Village Administrator Rebecca Molinaro Hansen, the East Hampton Town Trustees in the past have asked the village to try a pilot program to remove cans from the beach. After ensuing conversations with some Town Trustees, the mayor wanted input from his village colleagues on the matter, she said.

Dell Cullum, a Trustee, said on Monday that the Trustees have been trying since 2015 to persuade the village to remove trash bins from the beaches, over which Mr. Cullum said the Trustees’ board, not the village, has jurisdiction.

Every Trustee beach from Truck Beach in Amagansett to Georgica in East Hampton is free of garbage bins, Mr. Cullum said, and the Trustees have been against the addition of garbage bins to the beaches since the 30 or so garbage bins first appeared on village beaches.

“They are maintained great during the day, but horribly abused, misused, unmanaged, unsanitary and unsafe to our wildlife and our waters during the night,” Mr. Cullum said.

He said he has been documenting the trash over the past five summers, using still and video photography, and that he sees the litter get worse each summer.

“None of the other beaches has had this issue, because they do not put trash cans on the beaches,” Mr. Cullum said.