Thousands Help Clean Beaches : Environment: On 11th Coastal Cleanup Day, 7,500 volunteers picked up 66,500 pounds of trash and debris.

His mother had barely handed Danny Guidero a garbage bag before the 6-year-old scampered off to a spot not far away on the beach. He bent over and then ran back, grinning.

Clutched in one hand, he had a pink plastic bottle cap.

“I have a good eye, don’t I Mom?” said Danny as he proudly dropped the discovery in his bag.

The youngster was among the nearly 2,900 volunteers who scoured Santa Monica Beach from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, participating in the 11th annual Coastal Cleanup Day. Cleanup crews trudged along beaches up and down California’s coast, in an effort sponsored statewide by the California Coastal Commission.

In Los Angeles County, the cleanup was coordinated jointly by Heal the Bay and the City of Santa Monica. Environmentally conscious recruits, armed with gloves and garbage bags, scooped trash from Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu down the coast to Long Beach and beyond.

And scoop they did. In Los Angeles County, 7,500 volunteers bagged nearly 66,500 pounds of trash and recyclables. Last year’s cleanup day drew 6,000 volunteers, who collected 65,000 pounds of trash and recyclable materials.

Although the amount of trash increased, so too did the number of volunteers--which pleased Marilyn Kronmal, coordinator of the Los Angeles County cleanup.

“There’s a general awareness, so at least we’re educating people,” she said.

Santa Monica Beach, as always, drew the largest crowds.

A contingent of volunteer divers emerged with the day’s most interesting finds--a concrete park bench and paraphernalia for performing voodoo rituals. On shore, other volunteers found less exotic offal, with chicken bones, cigarette butts and scraps of plastic foam topping most of their lists.

“It’s almost like someone broke a Styrofoam cup and just sprinkled it all over the sand,” said Cecilia Aquino, 14, who was with classmates from Marymount High School in Westwood.

This year’s coastal cleanup was Maricela Higareda’s first trip--ever--to a beach. Seeming awed by the experience, the 8-year-old had no tolerance for people who litter.

“Those people are mean to the animals--they don’t like animals,” she said.

More than 600 volunteers who swarmed Santa Monica Beach were part of the Ninos “Earth” Centro project, a network of child care centers and schools in Los Angeles County that provides children with environmental information in Spanish. Ninos Centro spent more than $7,000 on buses, T-shirts and food for its volunteers.

To Danny Guidero, who came with the group, it was money well spent. Wiping off the sweat from underneath his baseball cap, he said he was glad to be doing his part.

“I’m cleaning the world,” he said.