WBRZ - Baton Rouge

BILOXI, Miss. - Mississippi's beaches and coastal waterways are cleaner by 27.3 tons of trash.

More than 2,500 people fanned out along the coast Saturday for the state's 24th annual coastal cleanup and filled more than 2,000 bags of trash - including 164 bags filled with recyclable materials.

The Department of Natural Resources says volunteers also found an unopened safe, a rocking horse, a dishwasher, a tiki hut and a chandelier, including bulbs.

The most peculiar item found was a sea turtle carcass simulator - a piece of scientific equipment belonging to the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies. It had washed up on Deer Island.