Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the International Coastal Cleanup.

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the International Coastal Cleanup.

Whereas the first International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) began in 1986 along the coastline of Texas, led by Linda Maraniss and Kathy O’Hara of Ocean Conservancy’s predecessor organization;

Whereas the ICC spread to other States the following year and has become the largest annual volunteer event in the United States;

Whereas Canada and Mexico began hosting ICC events in 1989;

Whereas, since 1986, nearly 19,000,000 volunteers have joined local cleanup efforts to remove over 400,000,000 pounds of ocean trash from beaches and waterways from 155 countries around the globe and nearly every State in the country;

Whereas, in 2024 alone, over 486,000 volunteers came out to conduct cleanups of all shapes and sizes, in over 100 countries and almost every State, collecting 7,500,000 pounds of trash globally;

Whereas a network of partners, including nonprofits and State and local governments, coordinate the cleanup of hundreds of sites along the coasts of the United States;

Whereas, nationwide, nearly 140,000,000 individual trash items and 122,500,000 pounds of trash have been removed from the environment and recorded via the ICC data card or Clean Swell app;

Whereas data collected by ICC volunteers has resulted in the world’s largest database of trackable, comparable data on ocean trash, totaling over 420,000,000 items, which is collected and published by Ocean Conservancy and is the largest and longest running citizen science ocean trash dataset in the world;

Whereas, as of 2025, 43 peer-reviewed scientific papers have used data from the ICC and more than 290 have cited the ICC;

Whereas over 70 percent of all ocean trash items collected through the ICC over the past 4 decades in the United States have been single-use plastics;

Whereas cleanups will not solve the plastic pollution crisis, but continue to play a vital role in reducing ocean plastic pollution;

Whereas, in 4 decades, the ICC has built a groundswell of ocean advocates and helped to raise awareness around the plastic pollution crisis;

Whereas local cleanups have an immediate, positive impact on the environment and communities and prevent future harm from plastics already out in the world;

Whereas participating in the ICC is one simple way that anyone, anywhere can take action for the oceans, whether on the coast or far inland; and

Whereas September 2025 marked the 40th anniversary of the International Coastal Cleanup: Now: therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) celebrates 2025 as the 40th anniversary of the International Coastal Cleanup;

(2) supports the goals and ambitions of the International Coastal Cleanup;

(3) encourages the people of the United States to participate in International Coastal Cleanup activities; and

(4) highlights the importance of reducing plastic pollution and addressing the problem at its source by producing less plastics.