This year marks the 25th anniversary of Coastal Cleanup Day, the premier volunteer event focused on the marine environment in the country
California Coastal Cleanup Day was first organized in 1985 by the California Coastal Commission, and since then, over 800,000 Californians have removed more than 13 million pounds of debris from our state's shorelines and coast. California Coastal Cleanup Day has been hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the largest garbage collection" (1993). Last year, more than 70,000 volunteers worked together to collect more than 1,600,000 pounds of trash and recyclables from California's beaches, lakes, and waterways.
Although California Coastal Cleanup Day was first organized in 1985 by the California Coastal Commission, the idea of a comunity-based cleanup event did not come from California. The year before, Oregon resident Judie Neilson had grown concerned over the amount of plastic debris she saw littering the Oregon coast. In October of 1984, Judie organized the first Coastal Cleanup Day, turning out over 2,800 volunteers to the beaches of Oregon.California watched, admired, and the next year, emulated Judie’s efforts with its first statewide Coastal Cleanup Day. Close to 2,500 Californians joined in the initial Cleanup, and the program has been growing by leaps and bounds ever since.
In 1986, The Ocean Conservancy (then known as the Center for Marine Conservation) ran its first Coastal Cleanup in Texas, and in later years became the coordinating agency for the International Coastal Cleanup, helping to spread the concept to nations around the world.
When combined with the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by The Ocean Conservancy and taking place on the same day, California Coastal Cleanup Day becomes part of one of the largest volunteer events of the year.