EVERY BIT COUNTS
Saturday, September 18th is International Coastal Cleanup Day (ICCD)! ICCD is an annual celebration that brings individuals and organizations together all around the globe to protect what we all love and rely on— our beaches and waterways.
Since its inception 35 years ago, over 16 million volunteers have collected more than 340 million pounds of trash across 100 countries in celebration of ICCD, including the many ICCD beach cleanups held each year by Surfrider Foundation volunteers around the globe! This year, you can join the REEF x Surfrider Better Beach Alliance in celebrating ICCD in a few different ways:
JOIN A SURFRIDER CLEANUP!
To find a local Surfrider event in your community, check out surfrider.org/chapters to locate and connect with your closest chapter. Check out their Facebook and Instagram pages or sign up for their newsletter to keep up to date on their upcoming events, too!
START YOUR OWN CLEANUP IN YOUR COMMUNITY, EITHER SOLO OR WITH A GROUP OF FRIENDS OR FAMILY!
Thanks to the dedication of the Better Beach Alliance, Surfrider’s data platform now allows for individual submissions, regardless of proximity to a coastline or affiliation with an official Surfrider event— because all waterways ultimately lead to the ocean, and every little bit counts. Learn how to hold your own beach cleanup (or clean up your local lake, river, park or urban area) by checking out the Better Beach Alliance Beach Clleanup Guide. Wherever you choose to celebrate ICCD, don’t forget to collect data during your cleanup and share your findings with Surfrider.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT BY HELPING SURFRIDER FIGHT TO REDUCE PLASTIC POLLUTION FROM THE SOURCE, RIGHT FROM YOUR COMPUTER!
Not able to get out and clean up your community? No problem! You can use your voice to help inspire and advocate for change by contacting your representatives on issues you care about! Year after year, the top ten items found at Surfrider beach cleanups are all plastic, and in 2020, nearly 88% of all items collected were plastic. These figures make it abundantly clear that plastics will continue to pollute the natural environment until large-scale legislative change is made. You can support federal action to reduce plastic pollution from the source by visiting Surfrider’s Take Action center and sending a message in support of the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, in just a few clicks.
Join the Better Beach Alliance in celebrating ICCD in your community, and learn more about our partnership with Surfrider here.