Summer is still going, and the Plastics team has been busy! We wanted to share some news since our last Plastic Pollution Initiative Update in April, so we can get you all caught up on what’s been going on this season.
Making Waves for Healthy Beaches This Summer 🌊
The Surfrider Foundations’s Beach Cleanup program is unique because not only do we accomplish hundreds of cleanup efforts annually with the help of our nationwide volunteers, but we also collect data and use it in our campaigns against plastic pollution.
Since the first quarter, we’ve seen our cleanup metrics more than double! So far for 2025, Surfrider has engaged over 14,115 volunteers during 475 cleanups, and together we’ve removed 87,843 pounds of trash and recycling!
You could get involved, too, all you have to do is sign up for a beach cleanup near you.
Part of our summer cleanup expansion included celebrating July 5th, also known as the Dirtiest Beach Day of the Year. We had an incredible turnout from 30 different Surfrider chapters in 13 states, who hosted 50 cleanup events. In a matter of days, we saw over 2,000 volunteers clean up 10,000 pounds of trash and recycling from our beaches. For more details on what festive debris was picked up, see our post-cleanup blog here.
From Washington's July 5th Cleanup in 2024: A truck and trailer loaded with holiday trash behind a pile of fireworks debris on the Dirtiest Beach Day of the Year. Photo credit: Kelly Jones
Finally, Surfrider released our latest Beach Cleanup Report in mid-July! In short, our 2024 report shows that Surfrider’s volunteers removed a record over 365,000 pounds of trash — a 65,000-pound increase over the previous year — and logged 870,000 individual pieces of litter, most of which were plastic. The report put an emphasis on the need for Extended Producer Responsibility laws, which shift the onus of plastic waste from a consumer back on to the producers of plastic packaging. Surfrider sees this as a strong solution for preventing plastic debris on our beaches.
Statistics from our 2024 Beach Cleanup Report: all the amazing impacts from our beach cleanup program — at a glance!
More Businesses are becoming Ocean Friendly! 🍽️
Since April, we have officially surpassed 600 and are at 609 restaurants in our Ocean Friendly Restaurant program! This is the highest number we have seen to date, and we are well on our way to our goal of 700 businesses. We are hoping to give this program an extra push once the busy summer season is over.
Not only that, but our Ocean Friendly Hotels program continues to expand. We’ve officially reached 30 hotels, all before our 1-year anniversary of the program! We just need 10 more to reach our goal for 2025. Do you know about a resort, bed-and-breakfast, or hotel that makes an extra effort for our environment? Learn more about the Ocean Friendly Hotel criteria here.
We recently featured Flying Fish in Portland, OR as one of our Ocean Friendly Restaurant Spotlights.
Summer Plastic Reduction Policy Update 🏛️
Our number of plastic campaign victories has come up from two to ten in 2024! Of those, eight of them were offensive wins, while two were defensive. Our goal for the year was to get ten policy wins, so we’ve met our objective ahead of schedule and we will continue to build on the momentum to pass even more plastic prevention laws.
The new victories include...
Statewide:
- Passed a strong extended producer responsibility Bill in Washington
- Eliminated thicker plastic bags in Oregon
- Passed a law to remove boat debris in Oregon
- Fought plastic preemption in Florida
Local
- Stopped construction site plastic pollution in the City of Northfield, NJ
- Stopped construction site plastic pollution in Galloway Township, NJ
- Reduced disposable food serviceware, polystyrene, and black plastic in Hudson, MA
- Banned cigarette butts in Santa Cruz, CA
We’ve also added new campaigns, bringing our total of new plastic campaigns to 14 for this year. Our total number of active campaigns has gone down to 45 now that we’ve seen some victories. 🎉
Our Plastic Pollution Initiative Coordinator, Jenna Schwerzmann, traveled to Washington D.C. in June to be part of Break Free From Plastic’s Hill Week! One of the legislative asks included our national campaign to push the Farewell to Foam Act. This bill would restrict the sale of products made from plastic foam (in other words, expanded polystyrene) like disposable takeout food containers, packing peanuts and single-use coolers.
Jenna Schwerzmann, our Plastic Pollution Initiative Coordinator (third from left) with her Congressman Nick LaLota in Washington, D.C. with the rest of the team from Break Free From Plastic’s Hill Week. Photo Credit: Addison Bauer, Oceana.
As an Initiative, we want to thank everyone who helps us advance our programs and campaigns, whether you’re a volunteer, a member, or just a fan of ours…we appreciate you! We also want to thank our sponsors — Costa Del Mar, REEF, and Surf Industry Members Assocation — for allowing us to do this work. Thank you all, and we’ll see you for our fall update!