Coordinators offered prizes as volunteers participating in California’s annual Coastal Cleanup day last weekend increased by 50%, and kept creeks 23% cleaner than the previous year.
Coastal Cleanup Day is a statewide event where volunteers clean up trash in waterways to save marine life from the effects of plastic.
Only 19,730 volunteers participated in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coordinators hoped that as many as 50,000 participants would show up in 2025 by giving the option to offer prizes such as $1000 in cash, vouchers for e-bikes, and San Francisco Giants tickets.
Eben Schwartz is the marine debris program manager at the California Coastal Commission.
“We are turning it into the world’s largest scavenger hunt,” Schwartz said in a Mercury News article.
Nicholas Ingram, Creek Connections Action Group Chair, is hopeful for the future of the creeks after the surge in volunteers.
“These are the highest numbers we’ve [the Santa Clara Valley Water District] seen since the pandemic,” Ingram said.
One of these volunteers was Palo Alto High School junior Madalena Buxton, who showed up to help clean Adobe Creek from litter.
“I wanted to be able to do something to help the environment, even if it’s something small, like picking up a few pieces of trash,” Buxton said.The Creek Connections Action Group will host a cleanup on National River Cleanup Day, May 17, 2026. For those who would like to get involved, more information is available on the City of Palo Alto calendar.