California Coastal Cleanup Day
 With 85 percent of cleanup sites reporting, a total of 9,587 volunteers participated in the cleanup effort at a record 80 cleanup sites throughout San Diego County and Tijuana. |
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 Now entering its 22nd year, Coastal Cleanup Day is the premiere marine-related volunteer event in California. Each year, thousands of volunteers turn out to California's beaches, lakes, and waterways to help remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of accumulated debris. San Diego Coastkeeper will, once again, partner with I Love A Clean San Diego and the California Coastal Commission to host the 22nd Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day (CCD), presented by the County of San Diego. CCD is a major part of an International Cleanup that includes all 50 states and almost 100 countries, making it one of the world’s largest volunteer events. California Coastal Cleanup Day is the premier volunteer event focused on the marine environment in the country. On this day, 50,000 volunteers turn out to over 700 cleanup sites statewide to conduct what has been hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the largest garbage collection" (1993). Since the program started in 1985, nearly 700,000 Californians have removed more than 10 million pounds of debris from our state's shorelines and coast. 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. Last year, 4,685 volunteers participated in the cleanup at nearly 60 coastal and inland sites, removing 209,789 pounds of trash and recyclables from San Diego County and Baja California beaches. Coastal Cleanup Day is the highlight of the California Coastal Commission's year 'round Adopt-A-Beach program and takes place every year on the third Saturday of September, from 9 a.m. to Noon. In 2006, that day falls on September 16. Coming at the end of the summer beach season and right near the start of the school year, Coastal Cleanup Day is a great way for families, students, service groups, and neighbors to join together, take care of our fragile marine environment, show community support for our shared natural resources, learn about the impacts of marine debris and how we can prevent them, and to have fun! Coastal Cleanup Day is also the kick-off event for Coastweeks—three weeks of coastal and water-related events for the whole family. Information on how to volunteer is located at the official San Diego County Coastal Cleanup Day website |
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