The state’s largest volunteer event, California Coastal Cleanup Day, turns 40 this year. Scheduled on Saturday, Sept. 21, this all-volunteer effort 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.

To find the closest cleanup event near you, visit coastalcleanupday.org. Follow statewide efforts on social media at facebook.com/CaliforniaCoast, twitter.com/TheCACoast and instagram.com/thecaliforniacoast/. Participants are asked to share their cleanup experience on social media using the hashtag #coastalcleanupday.

“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.”

California’s Coastal Cleanup Day event is presented with support from Oracle, Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water by CG Roxane, the Whale Tail Specialty License Plate, the Protect our Coast and Oceans Fund, Nordic Naturals, and GreenPolly. This year’s artwork was created and generously donated by Barrett Hofherr.

The Coastal Commission is committed to protecting and enhancing California’s coast and ocean for present and future generations. It does so through careful planning and regulation of environmentally sustainable development, strong public participation, education and effective intergovernmental coordination. The Coastal Cleanup Day Program is part of its effort to raise public awareness of marine and coastal resources and promote coastal stewardship.