Keeping Rehoboth Beach clean one cigarette butt at a time

Keeping a beach town clean during tourist season may be one of the most important tasks a city undertakes. In Rehoboth Beach, that task takes many hands, and for the last handful of years, the husband-and-wife team of Ron and Linda Nye have been doing their part as city employees.

Like many folks in the Cape Region, the Nyes moved to the area from Pennsylvania after retiring. Linda, 70, was a nurse for 44 years. Ron, 71, owned and operated his own contracting company for 41 years. They’re from Berks County, Pa., and have been married for 50 years.

The couple’s connection to the area is Ron, who’s been coming to Rehoboth since he was 6 years old.

“I can remember the good old days,” he said, adding one of their daughters now lives in the area too.

Linda said they were down here about five months before getting antsy, because they were bored with just sitting around and being retired. They approached the city about doing the trash and were quickly hired.

“We were told no one ever applies for this job,” said Linda, laughing. “Usually, someone from the streets department was simply told to do it.”

The Nyes work 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., three days a week. The couple typically starts the day on Wilmington Avenue, cleaning the ocean block first. They park the city’s small electric utility truck in one of the spots adjacent to the parking lot used by Grotto Pizza. Linda heads toward the Boardwalk. Ron heads toward South First Street. They meet back at the truck when they’ve canvased the area.

This street is always a mess, said Linda.

The morning of the interview was hot and humid. The Nyes were in good spirits and dressed for trash-picking success – hats, gloves, comfortable shoes, bright yellow vests – and they have the tools to match – a standing dustpan, a long-armed picker, a poker to clear out debris from cigarette receptacles, a scraper because sometimes the wax-covered cups melt to the streets, and dog treats.

The dustpan gets dumped into one of the city’s large trash cans when it gets about half full, said Linda. It gets a little hard on the shoulders when they get too full, she said.

They pick up anything that’s not natural, like feathers or something, said Linda. There is the occasional fish, she said, picking up a small silver fish in the parking spots in front of Zogg’s Raw Bar.

“Birds drop them every now and then,” she said.

The city has a street sweeper and a beach rake that get almost everything, but the Nyes come in behind them and get the areas they can’t get to. Like right up against the dune fencing on the beach, in the dunes, and right up on the curbs, said Ron.

In a typical shift, they’ll walk about 16,000 steps, said Linda, who tracks it on her phone.

Some days, the trash is worse than others. There are a lot of clothes, specifically shorts and underwear, said Ron. If they find a piece of clothing, they’ll place it somewhere visible – hanging on the dune fence near a crossing, for example. However, if it’s there too long, they come back and get it.

There are lots of bottle caps after the weekends, said Ron. It’s always surprising the amount of trash people will leave on the beach, he said.

Cigarette butts are the single-most frequent item the Nyes clean up.

“If we got paid in cigarette butts, we’d be billionaires,” said Ron.

The most unusual item they’ve found was a half-full catheter, filled with urine. As a retired nurse, Linda said it didn’t bother her, but Ron wasn’t a fan. There are used tampons and condoms, especially after the weekends, said Linda.

Linda said ice cream spills are the items she wishes they could do a better job cleaning up, but there’s not a whole lot they can do about them. They’ll get washed away when the rain comes, she said, shrugging.

Not too long ago, Linda found a single sneaker.

“If you see a one-legged runner, I have their shoe,” said Linda, adding that people will walk by and give them trash. “Job security.”

Ron said random people will come up to them and tell them they’re doing a good job. Just the other day, two kids came up and thanked them for cleaning the beach, he said. 

“Most people appreciate what we’re doing,” said Ron.

Over the course of the past few years, the Nyes have met a lot of people – delivery drivers, morning employees, regular walkers, everybody knows them, Ron said.

Because they work for the city, people will complain to them about parking tickets, said Ron.

“I always say I don’t have anything to do with that,” said Ron, smiling.

The only parking-related thing he’ll do is stop someone from backing into a parking space because it’s head-in parking only.

After the summer season, Ron said their approach changes a bit. The beach isn’t cleaned every day, which means they get more opportunity to clean the side streets more thoroughly, he said.

The Nyes will have been working for the city for four years in November. They’ll keep doing it as long as possible. Linda said it’s a good job because it allows her to keep moving.

At the end of the day, there’s a feeling like something was accomplished, because the beach and the streets were left better off than when they came, she said.

“As long as Linda wants to do it, I’ll do it,” said Ron.