International Coastal Cleanup at Alki September 16th, 2017.
Event locations can be found on our website.

On September 16, hundreds of people in Puget Sound and along the Washington coast will participate in the 32ndt annual International Coastal Cleanup, the largest single day volunteer effort to clean up beaches, lakes and rivers worldwide. Puget Soundkeeper will host cleanups at Alki Beach and Centennial/Myrtle Edwards Park, in Seattle, and support other cleanups across the Puget Sound watershed.

Ocean trash compromises the health of humans, wildlife, and the economies that depend on healthy waterways. The Coastal Cleanup tackles the problem at the source, removing harmful debris before it does serious damage. Worldwide, more than 500,000 people participated in last year’s ICC, removing nearly 18.4 million pounds of trash from shorelines and waterways. In Puget Sound, more than a thousand volunteers collected over 11,000 pounds of debris in 2016.

Every piece of trash volunteers find during the International Coastal Cleanup will be tracked and included in an annual index of global marine debris published by the Ocean Conservancy. The data collected at ICC events provides information that can inform policy solutions and identify target areas where preventative solutions can make the biggest difference. Soundkeeper will release a regional report for the second year in a row highlighting data from the Puget Sound watershed.

ICC events also raise local awareness and bring together people and organizations concerned with the health of our waterways.

The Alki and Centennial cleanup events will begin at 9:30 on Saturday morning. Other cleanups are taking place in Renton, Burien, Port Townsend, Tacoma, Bainbridge Island, and Bremerton. Washington CoastSavers is organizing additional cleanups on the outer coast and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.