Santa Barbara Unites for the Coast: Coastal Cleanup Day 2025
Coastal Cleanup Day was a huge success! This year, 1,038 volunteers searched the beaches, creeks, bluffs, and parks of Santa Barbara County and collected over 3,611 pounds of litter! Their efforts covered 60 miles between 30+ sites from Jalama to Rincon, diverting waste from our waterways and oceans!
As part of Coastal Cleanup Day, volunteers take note of what kinds of debris are found, data which then helps inform legislation and plastic bans. With the data from this year’s cleanup so far, plastic pieces and cigarette butts are the most common items found at Santa Barbara County sites.
Volunteers also found some strange and unusual items this year, including a pizza print swim cap, a pink butterfly stiletto, and a bubble wand. Also, the volunteers at San Pedro and Las Vegas Creeks recovered 530 golf balls!
This year, the California Coastal Commission organized a statewide “Trashure Hunt”, where treasure chests containing a prize were hidden at select sites in each region of California. With minutes to spare, Madison Heffentrager found the “trashure chest” hidden at Arroyo Burro Beach and won a two night stay at the Cuyama Buckhorn Hotel!
Coastal Cleanup Day is the largest volunteer event in the state. A huge thank you to all of the volunteers who came out this year to keep our coastlines and communities clean! With your help, we were able to divert more than 1.8 tons of trash from polluting our oceans.
Coastal Cleanup Day would not be possible without our Site Captains, community volunteers who are in charge of handing out cleanup supplies, helping volunteers, and reporting the data after the event.
This year’s amazing site captains include: Pyp Pratt, Celeste DeLucchi, Vanessa Brooks, Heather Hudson, Meg DeCoite, Lila Cleveland, Nina Parry Franklin, Dylan Otte, Hannah Keaton, Denise Alvarado, Katie Tompkins, Mia McAdams, John Ziegler, Holly Wright, Vicki Vachon, Amy Grenier, Julie Randall Colbert, Matthew Cogorno, Allison Armstrong, Katie Pointer, Lyn Moore, Eddie Oros, Ashley Hollister, Leila Dagan, Karissa Otero, Bodhi Crawford, Lori Lee Collins, Henry Eckold, Dr. Lena Dicken, Jessica Jubelier, Phyllis Noble, Teri Guillies, Melissa Erickson, Julie DeAngelis, Madi Jochum, Anne Burdette, Jean-Michel Ricard, Janet Koed, Greg Helms, Robert Byl, Brian Trautwein, Kaia Kababik, Christy Bates, Amanda Martin, Ryan Power, Marshall Hoopingarner, and Veronica Moran.
“It was so amazing to see all the people who were so excited about Coastal Cleanup Day and came out to clean up our beaches, bluffs, parks, and creeks. Thank you to everyone who spent their Saturday morning protecting our coastlines from pollution!” says Celeste DeLucchi, Coastal Cleanup Day intern for Explore Ecology.
Special thanks to the many nonprofits, businesses, and generous individuals who make this event possible. Local businesses donated items and experiences to our prize drawing for volunteers, including: The Boathouse at Hendry’s Beach, Yoga Soup, BODYROK, McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream, Natural Cafe, Surf Happens, Topa Topa Brewing Company, the MOXI Museum, CorePower Yoga, Paddle Sports Center, Santa Barbara Sailing Center, The Ritz Carlton Bacara, Sunkissed Pantry, Buena Onda Empanadas, Santa Barbara Adventure Company, Backyard Bowls, Yellow Belly, Santa Barbara Zoo, and Surf N’ Wear Beach House.
Santa Barbara County Coastal Cleanup Day is coordinated by Explore Ecology and the County of Santa Barbara Resource Recovery and Waste Management Division, with support from the cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Solvang. The California Coastal Commission organizes the statewide event and the international event is organized by the Ocean Conservancy.
Explore Ecology is so appreciative of all the volunteers who spent their Saturday morning cleaning up the Santa Barbara County coastline and community!
Coastal Cleanup Day is an annual international day of reducing ocean pollution, but it is not the only opportunity to clean up our coastlines. Explore Ecology hosts monthly beach cleanups, the second Sunday of every month from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at Arroyo Burro Beach! Please join us
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
Lindsay Johnson
