Plastic accounts for 85% of litter collected at Great Lakes beaches. (Brian Yurasits / Unsplash)

With the forecast calling for temperatures in the mid-80s, Saturday is looking like the perfect day to hit the beach.

Be sure to pack a trash bag along with the sunscreen. Saturday happens to coincide with the annual Adopt-A-Beach cleanup, organized by the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

There’s still time to register to participate. Volunteers are needed at beaches up and down Chicago’s lakefront, from Hollywood Beach to Calumet (click here to find a location).

Sprucing up the beaches is serious business. According to the alliance, plastic accounts for roughly 85% of litter collected at beach cleanups, putting volunteers on the front lines of keeping these pollutants out of Great Lakes water.

The cleanups got their start 31 years ago, but the alliance didn’t begin keeping tabs on the amount of litter gathered until 2003. Since the organization began tallying the trash by weight, more than 490,000 pounds have been collected. This could be the weekend that pushes the total over the half-million mark, organizers said. 

Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 |  [email protected]