California Coastal Cleanup Day celebrates 40th anniversary as state’s largest volunteer event

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (August 21, 2024) – California Coastal Cleanup Day turns 40 this year on Saturday, Sept. 21. The state’s largest volunteer event is expected to draw more than 50,000 people across hundreds of locations from the sea to the Sierra Nevada.

Winter rains in California can flush trash and other debris through stormwater channels, creeks, and rivers from inland areas hundreds of miles away from the ocean. That means that even volunteers participating in places such as Sacramento, Riverside or Julian are helping to protect the state’s iconic shoreline.

Since the event’s launch in 1985, about 1.8 million volunteers have helped remove more than 27 million pounds of trash from thousands of miles of California’s beaches and inland shorelines. The most common items include cigarette filters, food wrappers, plastic straws, and other utensils.

The event is organized by the California Coastal Commission, with help from the California State Parks Foundation and Ocean Conservancy, as well as hundreds of other government and nonprofit agencies throughout the state.

“The support that Californians have demonstrated for our coast over these past decades has been incredible,” said Coastal Commission Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge. “It’s amazing that volunteers who turned out to the earliest cleanups are now bringing their children or even their grandchildren out to participate.”

The cleanup event has proven so successful that the Coastal Commission introduced a self-guided program in 2020 to allow participation across the entire month of September. Last year, more than 45,000 volunteers turned out over the course of September, including at over 600 cleanup sites on Coastal Cleanup Day itself.

“It’s a testament to the strength of the cleanup movement that it has thrived for so long,” Huckelbridge said. “We can see the impact year-round. Thank you California for protecting our coast for the next generation!”

To find the closest cleanup event near you, visit coastalcleanupday.org. Publicity posters and t-shirts are also available at the website. Follow statewide efforts on social media at facebook.com/CaliforniaCoast, twitter.com/TheCACoast and instagram.com/thecaliforniacoast/. Please share your cleanup experience on social media using the hashtag #coastalcleanupday.