MONTEREY >> Santa Cruz and Monterey County beaches are a little bit cleaner today, following Saturday’s Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day.

Save Our Shores, the Monterey Bay regional coordinator for the event reported over 1,540 volunteers were responsible for picking up nearly 7,000 pounds of trash across 56 sites. Stretching from Año Nuevo State Beach in Pescadero to Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur, the 40th coastal cleanup day didn’t fall short.

“Every piece of trash we remove is a step toward a healthier planet,” said Program Manager Krista Rogers in a news release regarding the event. “Our volunteers’ dedication shows that when we come together, we can make a tangible difference in protecting our precious ecosystems.”

Save our Shores is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for policy changes and ocean conservation for the Monterey Bay and surrounding habitats. It aims to protect and conserve the coastline through various volunteer cleanup days and educational seminars with various school sites. The organization has between 50 and 70 cleanup sites throughout the region, according to Rogers.

As of Saturday, 60% of the cleanup sites had reported their preliminary results. These results showed a total of 28,751 volunteers and 254,772 pounds of pollution cleaned up.

Locally, volunteers also prevented 612 pounds of recyclables from entering the water and littering the coastline. At Del Monte Beach, 103 volunteers donated three hours of their time to the cause.

Despite being the largest volunteer event in the country, the annual event is still making its way back to its pre-COVID-19 numbers. In 2019, around 74,000 people came together to clean up 750 sites throughout the state. More people have been getting back out each year, with last year seeing 45,762 volunteers.

Beginning in 1984, the annual cleanup day has removed hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash and recyclable materials from not only the state’s beaches, but also lakes and waterways such as rivers and canals.

The inspiration for this type of cleanup dates back to 1979, when Humboldt County residents Joe Abbott and Ann Morrissey wrote a grant for the Beach Beautification Project that ended up removing over 34,000 pounds of trash from 110 miles of shoreline in Humboldt.

In 1984, Oregon resident Judy Neilson organized the country’s first statewide beach cleanup called the “Plague of Plastics.” California soon followed suit as the Coastal Commission organized the first annual California Coastal Cleanup Day.

Every year, volunteers are on the lookout for the most “unusual” items on their cleanup sites. According to the California Coastal Commission, this year’s unusual items were identified as a series of cashier’s checks worth $68,000 in Los Angeles County and matching cowboy and cowgirl figurines in Contra Costa County.

Since the inception of the event, over 1.5 million people have volunteered to clean up California’s coastline. The total amount of debris that has been picked up is over 26 million pounds.

Over the last 40 years, around 75% of collected debris has been plastic that is not completely biodegradable. According to the Coastal Commission, 80% of the trash that is picked up originates on land but eventually ends up in the ocean.

“By joining forces and getting our hands dirty, we’re not just cleaning up — we’re creating a legacy of environmental stewardship,” said Save our Shores Executive Director Katie Thompson in a news release. “We deeply appreciate the support from local nonprofits, businesses, and community members who share our vision for a cleaner, healthier bay.”