Eric Negroni, 10, an Ashton Elementary School student, picks up trash on Siesta Key Beach during Saturday's International Coastal Cleanup.

SARASOTA - A troop of volunteers wearing neon green T-shirts joined Saturday morning beachgoers, scouring the sand for forgotten wrappers, lost water bottle caps and discarded cigarette butts.

Nearly 1,900 volunteers pitched in to remove litter from Sarasota County beaches for the annual International Coastal Cleanup. Last year, volunteers with Keep Sarasota County Beautiful collected 270 bags of trash and recyclables from area beaches, said Wendi Crisp, the program coordinator.

Friends, schools and churches organized groups of volunteers at Siesta Key and 28 other beaches and parks. Not only did the volunteers pick up trash and separate the recyclables, but they meticulously tallied each piece of litter for the Washington D.C.-based Ocean Conservancy.

The Ocean Conservancy collects the data gleaned by volunteers around the world to track discarded waste items and the threat they pose to marine life.

Some items take years to decompose in the ocean, threatening fish and birds that may eat a plastic bag or tangle with old fishing line. Aluminum cans can take 200 years to decompose, according to the Ocean Conservancy.

I can't walk past trash on the beach, said Sara Jane Bush, who coordinated volunteers from First United Methodist Church. She is the chair of the church's Earth Stewardship committee, which began with a lecture series and expanded to community programs, like joining the coastal cleanup effort.

It's not safe, Bush said about the glass and plastic polluting the ocean. A former volunteer with the Mote Marine Laboratory's turtle patrol, she said helium balloons with strings that land in the ocean can be fatal if eaten by a turtle. Sharp objects that wash up on the beach can also be hazardous to barefoot runners and swimmers.

On Siesta Key, the volunteers wearing bright shirts that read Keep Sarasota County Beautiful written on the front and Volunteer on the back dotted the beach, as they spread out in pairs and small groups to collect and tally the litter.

Ron Hallock, who runs a handyman and landscaping service, said Saturday's cleanup was his second.

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Volunteers hit the beaches for Coastal Ceanup