WASHINGTON — The 30th anniversary of “Clean The Bay Day” is Saturday in Virginia, and volunteers are needed.

“It is a mixed blessing to clean up trash,” said Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker. “First, we’re cleaning up trash. That’s good. But, it is discouraging that so much trash gets into the water and gets onto the shorelines.”

For the anniversary, the foundation is looking for help.

Most projects last about three hours and are between 9 a.m. and noon.

Volunteers are asked to arrive about 15 minutes early to register and pick up supplies that might be provided, such as gloves, trash bags, pencils, clipboards and data cards.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation categorizes and keeps track of all the items that are collected. There’s typically a lot of plastic items — such as soda containers and even some car parts, like tires — but the most common thing is cigarette butts.

“It always gets to you, the amount of cigarette butts that are just thrown out,” Baker said.

Baker said you can do your part to help the health of the bay simply by disposing of trash properly and recycling waste whenever possible.

Over the years, Clean The Bay Day volunteers have removed more than 6 million pounds of trash and debris from Virginia shorelines.

The event happens rain or shine barring thunderstorms. You can find more information at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s website about activities.