Your Beach. Your Weekend.
Your Haul.
Volunteer kayakers and shore crews pulling plastic from coastlines, estuaries, and harbor floors — one weekend at a time. No branded vests. Just bodies doing the work.
The problem isn't abstract. It's on your street corner.
Every card below is a story from a specific drainage basin, jetty, or estuary. Zoom in close enough and you'll recognize the corner store in the background.
Your parking lot drains here.
The storm drain at Harbor Blvd & 3rd St flows 1.4 miles through Ballona Creek before emptying into the harbor mouth — carrying whatever lands on that asphalt with it. In a single rain event, this corridor delivers an estimated 340 lbs of debris to the tideline.
See This Beach's Full Reporthauled in 4 hours
Redondo Beach, CA
14 volunteers. 3 kayaks. One outgoing tide.
The fishing line problem nobody talks about.
Monofilament doesn't show up in tonnage counts because it weighs almost nothing. But it wraps around propellers, entangles shorebirds, and can persist for 600 years. Our Malibu crew pulled 2.3 miles of tangled line from a 400-foot stretch of kelp bed last October.
See This Beach's Full Report#1 Most Common: Polystyrene Foam
Breaks into white beads smaller than sand grains. Impossible to fully remove once fragmented. Found in 94% of our Southern California site surveys — usually near storm drain outfalls and boat launch ramps.
See This Beach's Full Report"I've been diving these reefs for 22 years. The difference after a Drift weekend is visible underwater."
— Marcus Webb, Dive shop owner, Monterey Bay
The jetty at Pier 7 was a trap.
Concrete pilings collect debris on the upcurrent side like a comb. When we finally got a kayak crew to the base last March, we found a compressed mat of rope, netting, foam cups, and pellets that had been accumulating since at least 2021. Total haul from one 80-foot section: 612 lbs.
See This Beach's Full Reportremoved from a 6-mile stretch
Santa Monica Bay, 2025
Annual survey data from 38 cleanup events.
#2 Most Common: Cigarette Filters
Cellulose acetate — not biodegradable. Each filter contains nicotine, arsenic, and lead that leach into sand and water. Our Ventura sites average 140 filters per linear foot of high-tide wrack line. They look like sand. They aren't.
See This Beach's Full Report
The Malibu Lagoon didn't used to look like this.
Malibu Creek carries debris from the Santa Monica Mountains watershed — plastic bags, foam containers, and bottle caps that travel 16 miles before reaching the lagoon. The lagoon is a critical stopover for Pacific Flyway birds. What accumulates here doesn't stay here.
See This Beach's Full ReportOne crew. One morning. 612 lbs.
The upcurrent face of Pier 7 Jetty had been accumulating debris since at least 2021. Drag the divider to see what a Drift weekend looks like.
Drag to compare · Pier 7 Jetty, Long Beach
No branded vests. No corporate sponsors. Just neighbors.
Retired teachers with sun-weathered hands, college students between midterms, families who want their kids to see a tide pool without a bottle cap in it.
Ruth Calloway
Retired Marine Biology Teacher · Santa Cruz, CA
"I spent 32 years teaching kids about the ocean. Now I get to show them what it looks like when you actually do something about it."
Devin Okafor
Dive Shop Owner, 22 years · Monterey, CA
"The reefs I've been diving since 1998 were losing visibility every year. Not from sediment — from microplastics suspended in the water column."
Priya & Sanjay Mehta
Parents, Weekend regulars · Malibu, CA
"Our daughter asked why there were so many bottles in the tide pool. We didn't have a good answer. So we started coming out every other Saturday."
volunteer shifts logged since 2019
beaches across 9 states
avg volunteer experience rating
The 5 most common debris items in your zip code's shoreline.
Know what you're looking for before you hit the tideline. These aren't statistics from a distant gyre — they're from surveys conducted within 20 miles of your coast.
Polystyrene Foam
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)
Breaks into white beads smaller than sand grains. Found near storm drain outfalls and boat launch ramps. Impossible to fully remove once fragmented.
Frequency
94% of sites
Persistence
500+ years
Avg. Weight
Near zero
Field Tip
Look for white beads mixed into the wrack line. Collect before wind disperses them.
Cigarette Filters
Cellulose Acetate
Not biodegradable. Each contains nicotine, arsenic, and lead that leach into sand. They look like sand. They aren't.
Frequency
140/linear ft avg
Persistence
10+ years
Avg. Weight
< 1g each
Field Tip
Sift the dry sand above the tide line — that's where they concentrate.
Monofilament Line
Nylon / Fluorocarbon
Invisible in water. Entangles shorebirds and marine mammals. Wraps propellers. Our Malibu crew pulled 2.3 miles from a 400-foot kelp stretch.
Frequency
Every survey site
Persistence
600 years
Avg. Weight
Negligible
Field Tip
Bring scissors. Never pull — cut and bundle. Dispose in monofilament recycling tubes.
Bottle Caps & Rings
HDPE / LDPE
Small enough to be ingested by seabirds. Accumulate in wrack line and between rocks. The rings are particularly hazardous to juvenile fish.
Frequency
88% of sites
Persistence
450 years
Avg. Weight
2–5g each
Field Tip
Check between rocks and in kelp piles. They sink into crevices.
Nurdles (Plastic Pellets)
Pre-production resin pellets
The building blocks of all plastic products. Spilled during shipping and manufacturing. Absorb persistent organic pollutants. Mistaken for fish eggs.
Frequency
71% of harbor sites
Persistence
500+ years
Avg. Weight
< 0.05g each
Field Tip
Use a fine mesh sieve in the swash zone. Report large concentrations — it may indicate a recent spill.
Find your nearest cleanup.
Every weekend, somewhere on the coast, a crew is showing up. Find the one closest to you and add your hands to it.
Redondo Beach Shore Sweep
Shore Crew📍 Redondo Beach Pier, CA · Led by Elena Vasquez
High-tide wrack line focus. Bring gloves and closed-toe shoes. Bags and tools provided.
Malibu Creek Estuary Pull
Kayak + Shore📍 Malibu Lagoon State Beach, CA · Led by Devin Okafor
Combined kayak and shore operation targeting the lagoon mouth and storm drain outfall area.
Santa Monica Pier Jetty Dive
Dive Crew📍 Santa Monica State Beach, CA · Led by Marcus Webb
Underwater debris removal from the north jetty face. Monofilament and net focus.
Ventura Harbor Family Day
Family Friendly📍 Ventura Harbor Village, CA · Led by Ruth Calloway
Kid-friendly harbor cleanup with field ID stations. Guided debris identification for children 6+.