'It upset the whole town': Wellfleet looking to avoid 'trashed' beaches

WELLFLEET, Mass. — The beaches in Wellfleet have some of the best views on the cape.

But on some weekends, the view is far from pretty as piles of refuse are left in public places -- like beaches and parking lots.

“It was pretty disheartening,” Wellfleet Selectwoman Janet Reinhart said of her town last week. “To see it trashed -- literally. It upset the whole town and probably many people on the cape."

The town of Wellfeet says it's only bad on big holiday weekends when the weather is perfect. This past Fourth of July weekend, the beaches were packed with dozens of charter buses bringing in day trippers.

“I heard 900 to 1000 extra people at the beach and that is a lot,” Reinhart said.

Wellfleet's town administrator posted a photo of all the extra trash on Facebook alerting residents of the extra costs and looking for ideas on how to address it.

He told us, “our goal is to not only keep the trash picked up, but encourage visitors to generate less trash.  As a community we will do whatever we can to encourage and promote that.”

“We're going to open all discussion and really information. Everyone who has a problem, or a complaint needs to have more information,” Reinhart said.

A nearby restaurant that manages the property says one idea is to maybe add more dumpsters on the busy weekends like the Fourth of July and Labor Day.

“I've seen people leave chairs, tubes, everything -- just because they don't want to take it back home," Connecticut resident Laurie Ambot said.

The town is also urging beach-goers to minimize what they toss out before leaving.

“I mean coolers, regular coolers. Can't you take those home?" said Reinhart.

Many we talked to say there’s a firm policy with their beach trash.

“If you brought it with you, then take it out. That's all I have to say.”

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