Carry-In, Carry-Out?

A carry-in, carry-out policy aimed at keeping trash from piling up at East Hampton Town beaches could begin on a trial basis this summer, at a beach yet to be chosen.

At a town board discussion on Tuesday, members approved of the idea but said it would require extensive public education and a shift in the mindset of beachgoers accustomed to leaving their trash in the cans at beach road ends, or, worse, on the beach. The cans often overflow despite frequent pickups.

“We’ve basically programmed people to associate road ends with garbage locations,” Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc said. In addition to the detritus from a day at the beach, some people bring household trash to deposit in the town cans at public places.

“Rather than continually going bigger and inviting more and more garbage at those locations, why not reduce the amount?” Mr. Van Scoyoc asked. Removing the trash cans altogether would require people to take their trash home from the beach, the councilman said. The approach is used successfully at state and federal parks, he noted.

But, acknowledged Supervisor Larry Cantwell, “you’re going to have some pain.” Even if the program eventually proves successful, he said, “you’re going to have some transition period that’s not going to be pretty.”

The town’s litter committee has been discussing the carry-in, carry-out approach, which was first suggested years ago by former Town Councilman Pete Hammerle. It has been approved by the East Hampton Town Trustees, and was discussed on Monday by the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee; that meeting is reported on elsewhere in this issue. Many members of the committee objected to making Indian Wells Beach in Amagansett the guinea pig, though they were more amenable to the idea of a pre-season trial in May and June.

Initiating the change at a “locals’ beach” is key, Councilman Van Scoyoc said, as residents are likely to feel a greater stake in keeping beaches clean, and could help to spread the word — and new habits — among summertime visitors.

“It has to be very well advertised, what we’re trying to achieve,” he said. Councilwoman Sylvia Overby agreed. “It would have to be a full-on press that this was happening.”

An awareness campaign could take a tailored approach according to which beach is chosen to roll out the program, said Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who has had a career in advertising. For instance, she said, if Indian Wells is chosen, outreach efforts could center on participants in the town junior lifeguard program, which takes place there, and on schoolchildren, for whom being old enough to spend a summer day alone on the beach with friends is “a rite of passage,” she said. If the Ditch Plain Beach, another possible location, were chosen, perhaps the surfers who frequent that spot would be targeted.

“It’s got to be structured in such a way that it has a chance to succeed,” Mr. Cantwell said, with enough lead time to publicize the new policy.

Ms. Overby, the liaison to the litter committee, agreed to have that group work on details of the pilot program, and Mr. Van Scoyoc, who is the board’s interface with the Parks and Sanitation Departments, will further the discussion with them.