How to Organize a Beach Clean Up
Cover image: OCG Saving The Ocean on Unsplash
As a surfer, the beach is the passage to our blue ocean playground. Its cleanliness is an indicator of the coastal ecosystem's health, and unfortunately, these days, many beaches are covered in trash. Beach clean-ups are great opportunities to spread awareness, build community support, and tidy up your local break. Surfrider is a great organization that has beach clean ups all over the world. Here is a quick guide that outlines what you need to do to organize your own!
1. Choose a Beach to Clean
The most important part of a beach clean up is the beach. Whether it’s the beach you frequent most often or another beach you’ve noticed that has a fair amount of trash, identify the location and set a site as the central meet-up point.
2. Decide Who’s in Charge
Identify 1 or 2 people to be the site coordinators and organizers of the event. A clean up takes a lot of work on this persons’ end, and it is best to have one person keep track of everything before, during, and after the clean up. Check out this site manager guide from the National Environmental Education Foundation for some good tips.
3. Make a Plan
This step involves visiting the site in advance to scope out the area. During this visit, make a plan as to the borders of the cleanup, a central meet-up place to check-in and drop off trash, and where you will put your trash and recyclables.
4. Get Supplies
There are quite a few must-haves when it comes to the essentials of a beach clean up. Necessities are trash bags, buckets, gloves (you can ask volunteers to bring re-usable garden gloves), hand sanitizer, water, sunscreen, and a first aid kit.
5. Decide how to Handle Collected Trash
Make a plan on how to gather and dispose of trash. For recyclables, reach out to local recycling facilities to organize accepting glass, plastics, and aluminum wastes found at the beach.
6. Find Event Partners
Contact local businesses about the donation of water, supplies, food and to help advertise the event. Check to see if your local waste hauler can donate their trash removal services as well.
7. Plan for Hazardous Waste
In some cases, you and your volunteers may come across medical, sewage, or other hazardous waste. A tip is to find a wide-mouth container with a tight-fitting lid and label it Hazardous Waste.
8. Find Volunteers
Talk to friends, families, co-workers, and make a social media post to help recruit volunteers for the cleanup. It is helpful to create a Facebook event and have people sign up online to keep track of how many expected volunteers you’ll see on your clean up day.
9. Track the Trash Collected
Fulfill your childhood dreams of becoming a citizen scientist and help contribute to the global data collection of beach debris. You can submit your findings in the NOAA Marine Debris Tracker app.
10. Share Your Event
Take photos and share your event on social media to spread the word and give recognition to your hard-working volunteers.
Did learning about how to organize a beach clean up inspire you to hit the waves and enjoy your soon to be clean beaches? Remember to check out the Jamie O’Brien Surf App here for anytime, anywhere surf coaching.
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