Volunteers Comb Shores in Yearly Cleanup : Beaches: About 5,200 people pitch in and pick up at 21 sites countywide. Organizers estimate that more than 105,000 pounds of trash is collected.

When Tyrone and Tina Fuimono of La Habra visit the beach, they are usually dressed for a swim, armed with a book or two and excited about a day enjoying the sun. But Saturday morning just north of the Huntington Beach pier, the couple were outfitted for work, carrying trash bags and thankful the sky was overcast.

The pair were part of an estimated 5,200 volunteers to participate in the annual California Coastal Cleanup Day. Huntington Beach was one of 21 sites in the county where volunteers picked up bag after bag of trash from beach areas and nearby parking lots.

“We spend a lot of time here, so it’s nice to come and give something back,” said Tina Fuimono, 29.

Officials estimated that more than 105,000 pounds of trash and recyclables was collected by volunteers countywide. Cigarette butts, plastic soda lids and foam plastic cups topped the list of debris scooped up by the army of volunteers Saturday.

“This is just fantastic for the beach,” said Tim Turner, Adopt-A-Beach coordinator for Huntington Beach. “Year after year, the beach just gets cleaner and cleaner.”

In addition to improving the beach’s appearance, Turner said the removal of trash also helps save marine life, which can die after mistaking foam items for food. The city’s beach cleaning machines often cannot pick out the smaller debris that volunteers can, said Turner.

Turner said when the city sponsored its first beach cleanup 17 years ago, only 17 people showed up. Saturday’s Huntington Beach cleanup drew about 1,000 volunteers to work a 4 1/2-mile stretch of city beaches.

“The environmental message is slowly spreading from the beach and starting to head inland,” Turner said. “If you drop trash it’s going to end up at the beach.”

One message that apparently isn’t moving swiftly enough is that smokers should properly dispose of their cigarette butts. Discarded butts accounted for 15% of all the trash collected Saturday, officials said.

Brenda Gessner, 28, an insurance supervisor, picked up hundreds of butts in a beach parking lot, and there still were hundreds more to go.

“This is going to take me awhile,” said Gessner, a Huntington Beach resident, standing amid the debris. “It’s really disgusting. They pollute the air and then the land. They are dual polluters.”

Like many other volunteers who donated their Saturday to spruce up the coastline, the Fuimonos left the beach as content as if it had been a day of leisure.

“We feel like we did something useful with our weekend,” said Tyrone Fuimono, 27, a manufacturing plant worker. “We just didn’t sit around the house doing nothing.”

Onlookers viewed the cleanup volunteers with curiosity and supported their efforts. Some found the spirit of the day catching.

“If I see a piece of trash, I’ll pick it up,” said Michael Van Auker, a 15-year-old student at Huntington Beach High School, who went to the beach to watch a surfing contest. “I think what they are doing is great.”