Beachcombing is serious business for Chris Pallister, and he needed help sorting the haul this year.
Pallister is president of the Gulf of Alaska Keeper, which annually helps clean marine debris off Alaska beaches.
This year, the group cleaned a small portion of coastline on two islands south of Anchorage. The effort netted about 200 tons of trash like plastic water bottles and commercial fishing gear. Workers also continue to find debris like refrigerators, small appliances and foam building material from the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
"There's a tremendous amount of every kind of plastic you can think of," Pallister said Tuesday, with the most prevalent being plastic water bottles. "Millions of bottles. I mean, it's astounding how many bottles we picked up.
