About 50 volunteers armed with tools that look like 3-foot-long tweezers spent Saturday morning picking up buckets and buckets of trash in a cleanup sponsored by Current Problems, an Alachua County nonprofit that protects area waterways.

For all of its pollution, and it has a lot of it, Newnans Lake is pretty. On the water, it provides a 360-degree view of largely undeveloped land with east Gainesville on one side and Windsor on another. And from its banks, framed by cypress branches and knees, the 5,800-acre lake is a timeless piece of ancient Florida.

But when you look at the ground you see trash — bottles, cans, plastic bags and straws, bait containers, fishing line and bobbers, clothing, foam soft drink cups and many other types of garbage.

About 50 volunteers armed with tools that look like 3-foot-long tweezers spent Saturday morning picking up buckets and buckets of that litter in a cleanup sponsored by Current Problems, an Alachua County nonprofit that protects area waterways.

Among them was Sam Schatz, vice president of the University of Florida Forestry Club and a forest resources and conservation major.

“The main disturbance is the bottles. There’s a ton of wrappers everywhere. And a bunch of little tiny things,” Schatz said. “It’s very sad. The reason I wanted to do this is because I went to Ring Park for a run and saw a bunch of stuff in Hogtown Creek and got kind of angry.”

Hogtown Creek is not part of the Newnans Lake watershed but others, including Hatchet Creek, are. Caroline Huguenin of Current Problems said creeks are a stream for trash into the lake, which is more than a mile wide.

Trash is also left on the banks or gets into the lake from boaters and paddlers. During times of high water, trash from the lake will be deposited on the land around it.

It all adds up to lots of trash, some of it is pieces as small as a dime that the tweezer tools can grasp.

Volunteers were on the banks along Lakeshore Drive and at Palm Point Park just off the road. They were also in Windsor and in watercraft on the lake to pluck up whatever refuse they could.

“We’re removing the trash from around the lake and from the tributaries before it gets to the lake,” Huguenin said. “The worst are the (foam) cups. They are everywhere.”

Gina Hawkins, executive director of the anti-litter group Keep Alachua County Beautiful, pointed to small white slivers all over the ground on a trail at Palm Point Park — pieces of those foam cups.

Hawkins said a clean environment is not just a matter of aesthetics. It also boosts the economic health of a community.

“When you get rid of blight it allows for economic investment. Who wants to try to lure employers to a place that’s filthy?” Hawkins said. “It’s not just picking up litter.”

A family that is part a growing segment of the local economy — Cypress & Grove Brewery co-owners Sally Adkins and Patrick Burger, along with their children — joined in the effort to clean Palm Point Park.

“I think it’s like an Easter egg hunt for a good reason,” Adkins said. “You get out in nature. You are doing something that helps our local waterways. It’s a chance to explore this little part of Gainesville.”