Organizers of the statewide "Get the Drift & Bag It" event will be closely counting the beverage containers collected during next week's beach cleanup for further evidence that Hawai'i's HI 5¢ container redemption law is reducing litter.

The "bottle law" went into effect Jan. 1, 2005, and container counts from last year's cleanup showed a substantial drop in the number of glass and plastic bottles and cans. But because ocean conditions and the number of volunteers and targeted areas vary from year to year, there's not enough data yet to confirm a link.

"It's hard to know with just one year; it would have to be over a longer period of time," said Chris Woolaway, statewide coordinator of "Get the Drift & Bag It," held annually in connection with the International Coastal Cleanup program.

During last September's beach cleanup, 8,285 glass bottles, 3,824 plastic drink containers and 3,518 beverage cans were collected. The bottles accounted for 7 percent of the total trash haul, plastic containers 3.2 percent and cans 3 percent.

In the 2004 event, 11,362 bottles were picked up (8.3 percent of the total), along with 5,215 plastic containers (3.2 percent) and 6,894 cans (3 percent).

Jeff Mikulina, executive director of the Sierra Club in Hawai'i, said the decrease in container litter "is an encouraging trend. While the overall amount of beach litter collected by this program decreased by 17 percent, the amount of beverage containers decreased twice as much."

The Sierra Club was a major advocate for passage of the bottle law. "We anticipated that Hawai'i's deposit program would help reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean and glass bottles on the beach. It's great to see the results," Mikulina said.

Although Sept. 16 is the official date of the 2006 "Get the Drift & Bag It" campaign, some cleanups are being held in advance, including tomorrow's marine debris removal on Kaho'olawe.

At last year's event, 2,206 volunteers covered 87 miles, collecting nearly 119,000 items weighing a total of more than 18 tons. The helpers included 150 divers, who removed 1,480 pounds of debris from the ocean, according to data from the 2005 Hawai'i cleanup.

Half of the debris originated from land-based activities such as picnics, festivals, sports and beach outings. Smoking-related activities accounted for 37 percent of the debris total. Cigarette filters once again headed the list of top 10 debris items, with 39,913 butts, almost 34 percent of the total 'opala count.

A sampling of other items picked up during last year's beach cleanup include car batteries, appliances, condoms, diapers, 55-gallon drums, fishing lures, clothing and shoes.

While the debris is unsightly and sometimes just plain gross, a main concern is its impact on marine animals. Entanglement in nets, fishing line and rope and consumption of balloons, plastic bags, six-pack holders and other items can lead to starvation, choking and suffocation.

The Sept. 16 cleanup will cover 31 O'ahu beaches, 30 on the Big Island, 24 on Maui, two on Moloka'i and one on Kaua'i, at Hanalei Bay. Among the top trash sites on O'ahu during the 2005 event were Makapu'u, where almost 12,000 debris items were collected; Sand Island with about 9,000 items; and White Plains Beach at Kalaeloa with 5,800.

People can still sign up for this year's event by contacting county organizers. Longtime participants include major corporations such as Hawaiian Electric and Alexander & Baldwin, as well as school groups, individuals and community organizations such as Nani 'O Wai'anae, which has been involved in "Get the Drift & Bag It" for the past 20 years.

Nani 'O Wai'anae is a nonprofit environmental group and the O'ahu affiliate of the national Keep America Beautiful program. Executive Director Katy Kok is hoping several hundred volunteers will turn out for Nani 'O Wai'anae cleanup from Kahe Point to Keawa'ula.

Kok said remote and rural areas along the Wai'anae Coast and North Shore of O'ahu are illegal dumping grounds for tires, appliances, car batteries and other rubbish. An awful lot of the 'opala collected during the "Get the Drift & Bag It" event were discarded by thoughtless beachgoers who assume park workers will clean up after them, she said.

"If you call it to their attention, most people say they thought someone else would be picking it up. People need to know that most of the beaches on the Wai'anae Coast are undeveloped, and on top of that, there are not enough park workers, and they have plenty of other work to do," Kok said.

"People need to really get with it. You don't leave something there that wasn't there when you got there, and if you find something that shouldn't be there, take it home and get rid of it."

Kok said the cleanups can be a fun and rewarding activity.

"It's fun because you get immediate results," she said. "There aren't too many projects you can do with your kids and friends where you can turn around and say, 'Look what we did.' "

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.