MARQUETTE -- Dozens of volunteers hit the beaches in Marquette Saturday to help keep the shoreline clean. Meantime, divers scoured the bottom of Lower Harbor as well looking for garbage.
The coastal cleanup is sponsored by the Nature Conservancy of Michigan and the Moosewood Nature Center. It's inspired by the Ocean Conservancy which holds a worldwide cleanup.
Here in Marquette, organizers are looking to identify the kind of garbage collected to figure out a solution to prevent the pollution.
"Obviously one of the main goals today is to clean the beaches up, but one of the other things that we're trying to do is find out what are the most commonly found pieces of garbage out here, and not only that, but what are the solutions once we figure out what's commonly found," said Chris Cantway of the Nature Conservancy of Michigan.
One of the most common items found along the shores are cigarette butts.