Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful partners with International Coastal Cleanup for countywide cleanup

Bottle caps, pull tabs and other debris collected during a shoreline cleanup. [Photo by Kim Ampie]

Volunteers will spread across Palm Beach County’s beaches, parks and waterways Saturday, Sept. 19, as part of a worldwide effort to remove trash before it can harm marine life or wash farther into the ocean.

Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful is coordinating local participation in the International Coastal Cleanup, an annual Ocean Conservancy initiative that combines community service with citizen science.

Eight Palm Beach County locations are participating: Daggerwing Nature Center in Boca Raton, Sandoway Discovery Center in Delray Beach, Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area, Lantana Beach, R.G. Kreusler Park in Palm Beach, Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach and Coral Cove Park in Tequesta. Start times range from 8 to 9 a.m.

The Delray Beach cleanup will run from 8 to 10 a.m. at Sandoway Discovery Center, 142 S. Ocean Blvd. Volunteers should meet in the park immediately north of the center.

Participants are encouraged to wear comfortable clothing and closed-toe shoes and bring their own water. Gloves and cleanup supplies will be provided. Volunteers must complete a registration form and waiver.

The project involves more than collecting discarded bottles, food wrappers and other debris. Volunteers record what they find, helping researchers identify the types and sources of pollution on beaches and in waterways. Information entered through Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app is added to a global marine trash database.

Results released from the 2025 cleanup showed volunteers worldwide collected more than 1.3 million plastic bottles and 885,000 bottle caps. Since the cleanup began in 1986, more than 19 million volunteers have removed over 400 million pounds of trash.

Palm Beach County cleanups will be held rain or shine. Volunteers should preregister directly with the coordinator for their selected location.