There was a time when talking trash in New York or New Jersey wasn’t such a literal endeavor. But now, since Hurricane Sandy has washed tons of debris into the ocean, trash—and its possible effect on tourism, boating, and other beach activities—has become a topic of intense conversation.

“We have everything from floating oil barrels, gasoline tanks, household hazardous waste products, buckets, tires, bathtubs, you name it,” Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment on Long Island told the Associated Press. “Come the spring, this stuff is going to be submerged partially or totally, but the boats are going to have some very serious issues.”

Those issues extend to swimmers, too, and together that could spell double whammy for beach business from Connecticut to New Jersey.

“Someone goes out crabbing; they buy gas for the boat, maybe they have to rent the boat in the first place. They buy bait, they buy lunch," Brick, New Jersey, Mayor Stephan Acropolis told the AP. "It's a big economic impact. People live here because they want to be on the water, out on a boat. If we don't get this cleaned up, we're going to have a problem."

Cleanup, however, isn’t so easy. Although efforts are underway to sift detritus from beach sand, debris removed from the water tends to get replaced with other debris.

“We did a cleanup three weeks ago. Then when we went back the other day, you could still see junk coming up in the wash,” New Jersey resident Paul Harris told the AP. “They go and clean it again, and two days later, you have the same thing again. There's nothing you can do about it; you can't vacuum the ocean.”