Tens of thousands of Californians turned out Saturday, Sept. 20 to take part in the 41st annual California Coastal Cleanup Day — the state’s largest annual volunteer event. Participants scoured cleanup sites, removing hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash before it could be washed out to sea during the rainy season.

With 40 percent of the cleanup sites reporting, the statewide count stands at 19,987 volunteers.

Those volunteers picked up 139,650 pounds of trash and an additional 38,646 pounds of recyclable materials, for a total of 178,296 pounds or 89 tons.

Volunteers gathered at beaches, shorelines and inland waterways, cleaning up locations – for the first time ever – in all of California’s 58 counties, across the state’s entire coastline and as far inland as Lake Tahoe. California’s event is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by the Ocean Conservancy.

In a new effort this year, California Coastal Cleanup Day became the world’s largest scavenger hunt. Volunteers across the state participated in the “Trashure Hunt,” uncovering hidden treasure chests that they were able to redeem for valuable prizes. Participants won everything from hotel stays, tickets to theme and amusement parks, gift cards, tickets to a Giants baseball game, a ceremonial first pitch at an A’s game, an e-bike, and many more prizes.

“We’re very excited about this year’s creative twist on Coastal Cleanup Day,” said Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge. “Californians have repeatedly shown up to protect the state’s iconic shoreline, and this is our way of celebrating that dedication.”

The Coastal Commission organizes the event with help from hundreds of governments and nonprofit agencies throughout the state. About 1.8 million volunteers have helped remove more than 13,500 tons of trash since the event’s launch in 1985. The most common items include cigarette filters, food wrappers, plastic straws, and other utensils.

In addition to searching for treasure chests and trash, volunteers also found a number of “unusual” items during this year’s cleanup. The winner of the 2025 Most Unusual Item contest was a volunteer along the Santa Rosa Creek in Sonoma County who found an emotional support pickle. The winning volunteer will receive a $100 prize from the Coastal Cleanup Day Program.

In addition to in-person cleanups, the Coastal Commission continues to encourage volunteers to run self-guided cleanups throughout neighborhoods across the state. These cleanups serve the same purpose as the Cleanup Day events that took place Saturday, preventing trash from ever having the opportunity to reach the coast. To date, 803 Californians have conducted a neighborhood cleanup, removing over 4,476 pounds of trash during 261 cleanups.

Coastal Cleanup Day could not happen without the support of public and corporate partners that help fund the event and often provide additional benefits. New Presenting Sponsor Niagara Cares provides the backbone of funding that makes the cleanup possible, as well as volunteer support at multiple sites. Longtime sponsor Oracle provides volunteer support. Nordic Naturals helped promote the cleanup and even ran a nationwide contest to help turn out volunteers. Along with more than 60 nonprofit and local government organizations that help organize and run the cleanups around the state, the program’s strong team of partners helped make the 2025 cleanup another huge success.

Volunteers can go to www.coastalcleanupday.org to fill out the Coastal Cleanup Survey and be entered into a drawing for a Coastal Cleanup Day prize package. To stay involved with the cleanup efforts throughout the year, visit the Adopt-A-Beach page on the same website.

California Coastal Cleanup Day event is presented by the California Coastal Commission and Niagara Cares, with support from Oracle, Nordic Naturals, the Whale Tail Specialty License Plate, the Protect our Coast and Oceans Fund, and GreenPolly. This year’s artwork was created and donated by Barrett Hofherr.

Trashure Hunt prizes were donated by Niagara Cares, Oracle, Nordic Naturals, Vinfast, California State Parks Foundation, Cuyama Buckhorn, the San Francisco Fairmont, the Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, San Francisco Giants, A’s, Boichik Bagels, Poppy Bagels, Salida River Adventures, Well Fargo Advisors, Habit Burger, Doordash, TransPak, Hotel Tonight, Bachan’s, DXL, The Terraces, Longboard Vineyards, PacSun, and Intex.

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.