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Join this worldwide cleanup effort at one of the 100+ sites throughout the region. Coastal Cleanup Day celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024.

Over 98,000 pounds of litter removed in 2023!

Event Details:

List of site options will be available when registration opens on Friday August 30th 2024. Interested in being a Site Captain? Email our Regional Programs Coordinator, Lance Mann at lmann@cleansd.org.

About

Over 269,000 volunteers and 5 million pounds of litter and debris removed since 1985.

I Love A Clean San Diego has served as the official organizer of Coastal Cleanup Day in San Diego County since it was founded in 1985. San Diego’s Coastal Cleanup Day is a major part of the International Coastal Cleanup, which is facilitated by The Ocean Conservancy and organized statewide by the California Coastal Commission! The International Coastal Cleanup includes many U.S. states, territories, and over 70 countries. In California, data is reported to the California Coastal Commission and funneled into the world’s largest marine database. By volunteering for Coastal Cleanup Day in San Diego, you are joining hundreds of thousands of volunteers all over the world to remove pollution from our ecosystems!

 

Why Volunteer?

By 2050, there could be more plastic than fish by weight in the world’s oceans if we don’t defend our waterways from litter

Because we LOVE where we live

 

Get Involved

Anyone can do it! Volunteer as an individual, with friends and family or as a corporate team. All ages welcome.

Partners

Corporate partnership is critical to sustaining these vital events that protect our waterways and marine life. Our partnerships are turnkey and create excellent employee volunteer opportunities. Check out our Sponsorship Deck for more information on how to get support this event today!

Volunteer

You can sign up as a volunteer at our more than 100 cleanup sites throughout the County. Complete cleanup site list will be posted on September 1 when registration opens.

Scout Troop Patches

I Love A Clean San Diego is proud to offer scout troops and interested volunteers a commemorative patch to recognize your volunteerism and participation!

 

Thank you to our 2023 Coastal Cleanup Day Partners

Presenting

 

 

Green

Gold

Silver

Bronze

In-Kind Donations

Exclusive Radio Partner

In Partnership With

FAQs

There are many ways to support the efforts of Coastal Cleanup Day with I Love A Clean San Diego:
  • Volunteering on the day – choose from any of the cleanup sites around the county
  • Volunteering to be a site captain and lead the cleanup yourself for members of the public
  • Donating – financial support or giveaways/supplies for our volunteers
  • Sponsoring the event
  • Promoting the event and spreading the message
Coastal Cleanup Day will have cleanup sites throughout San Diego County. Site map and registration opens on September 1. Once posted you select to volunteer for a site of your choosing through our Community Hub portal.
Coastal Cleanup Day is a countywide cleanup effort that encompasses around 100 different sites throughout San Diego County – each one lead by a site captain for the public. As a site captain, you will lead your site on the day of the event. I Love A Clean San Diego provides the supplies, additional outreach, website coordination for volunteer registration, and hauling for the trash and debris collected (if necessary). Before the event, site captains are responsible for picking up the supplies from our office. Site captains are asked to scout their location and choose where the meeting location is within I Love A Clean San Diego’s deadlines. On the day of the event, site captains collect waivers from volunteers, pass out supplies, give an informational/safety talk, hand out data cards and then keep a record of the trash & debris totals to report back to us by 1pm the day of the event. Any extra supplies will just be drop in front of the office anytime. If you are interested in being a site captain please email Kristin (kbanks@cleansd.org).
Volunteers should wear closed toed shoes, have some form of sun protection (hat and/or sunscreen) as well as bring a water bottle or two! Volunteers in canyon locations with exposure to poison oak should wear light weight long pants and long sleeves for protection. Site captains will have gloves and trash bags on site for all registered volunteers but if you would like to be zero waste champions we would recommend bring reusable garden gloves and a bucket.
We encourage you to print, review and sign the waiver of liability and turn it in to the site captain on the day. This makes the check-in process go quicker! However it is not required to have beforehand, there will be hard copy waivers on the day for you to sign if you don’t have a printer or forgot! Everyone under 18 will need a parent or legal guardian to sign the waiver for them, this can be done in advance by printing at home or on the day of the event.
Our site map (which is posted September 1 with registration opening) shows all the locations we are hosting for the event. It is broken down into sections to help make it easier to search an area you would like to volunteer in. Furthermore each site is listed with the name of the city it is located in first, to help volunteers better understand the location at a glance. Typically coastal sites tend to have less need, this is because these locations are the most popular to support. A week before the event, sites that are in need of more volunteer help will be listed as a “hot opportunity” and can be filtered for in the search categories of the Community Hub portal. However every single site would benefit from litter collection, even the smallest pieces can pollute and destroy the ecosystems around them.
Registration opens September 1, this is when you will be able to see all the site options. To register you must create an account on our Community Hub. From there you can pick any location you would like and register as an individual or for a whole group when you click the blue sign up button on the specific location’s webpage.
This event does qualify for community service hours and court ordered hours at all the designated cleanup locations. In order to receive volunteer hours, service forms and Letter of Appreciation, volunteer will need to be:
  • Registered for the event through I Love A Clean San Diego’s Community Hub.
  • Participate in the cleanup
  • Capture a photo of your active participation in the cleanup
  • Log your hours and complete the logbook survey post cleanup through your profile on Community Hub (this is where you can request a Letter of Appreciation)
  • Site captains will also have a hard copy available on site upon request.
Any age is welcome to join! Only persons over the age of 13 can make an account but anyone with an account can register a group. Some locations are not kid friendly and have been noted on the location’s specific webpage. Please read the webpage closely to make sure it is a good fit for your family.
I Love A Clean San Diego is proud to offer scout troops and interested volunteers a commemorative patch to recognize your volunteerism and participation. Patches are available by request while supplies last after the cleanup. Volunteers will have to log their hours on the online portal to be eligible and a donation of a couple of dollars is encouraged so we can keep the patch program going for future events. Volunteers can request a patch after the event is completed through our Patch Request Form link now.
Have additional questions? Contact our Community Engagement department staff.