Surfrider's 2025 Beach Cleanup Report: The Power of Beach Cleanups

The Surfrider Foundation is pleased to present our seventh annual Beach Cleanup Report, highlighting beach cleanup data, regional case studies, and current science of 2025. As we reflect on the impacts of the national Beach Cleanup program, it’s amazing to hear the heartfelt stories of how our network grew together and increased our power in the fight against plastic pollution. 

The Surfrider Foundation’s Plastic Pollution Initiative aims to protect our ocean from the harms caused by plastic pollution by advocating for the reduction of single-use plastics. This includes eliminating the production of single-use plastics at the source, switching to more sustainable or reusable options, and ensuring that all remaining plastic is mechanically recycled rather than being burned or ending up in landfills or our environment. The Beach Cleanup program is the first step in reducing the amount of plastic ending up in our waterways, on our beaches, and ultimately in the ocean and demonstrates that through collective action, positive change for a cleaner future is possible.

Top Ten Items Collected:

	196,283 Cigarette Butts		79,587 Small Plastic Fragments
	60,484 Fishing Line		56,768 Large Plastic Fragments
	44,951 Small Foam Fragments		42,343 Plastic Food Wrappers
	30,993 Paper/Wood Fragments		30,722 Plastic Bottle Caps/Rings
	25,022 Large Foam Fragments		18,534 Plastic Bottles

Over the course of 2025, 34,000 volunteers removed nearly 340,000 pounds of trash and recycling from America’s coastal environments during 1,058 cleanups, ultimately intercepting and reducing the amount of plastic pollution flowing into our ocean. More than 800,000 individual items were cleaned up from beaches, parks, and coastal ecosystems. Surfrider’s beach cleanup data confirms that once again, year after year, plastic pollution is an enormous, pervasive threat to our coasts and ocean.

In 2025, plastic was the number one material found during Surfrider beach cleanups, accounting for 85% of all items cataloged. The results of these cleanups are not only immediately cleaner communities and beaches, but also long-term reductions in plastic pollution by identifying problematic pollution trends and working to pass legislation to remove these items from circulation.

Regional Impact

Cleanups do more than clean the beach — they bring new people into Surfrider’s community, provide a hands-on learning experience about the scale and scope of plastic pollution, empower local leadership, and lay the foundation for a cleaner future for our ocean and coasts. The 2025 Beach Cleanup Report spotlights the incredible activists working tirelessly to clean up their beaches and shares their stories of why cleanups are important to them and their communities. As Surfrider chapters and student clubs continue to host cleanups and remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash from our beaches and coasts each year, we couldn’t be more thankful for their dedication to keeping our ocean clean and free from plastic pollution.

Science and Policy

The report explores the harms of smoking waste — including the top littered item in the world, cigarette butts, and their alternatives, and the ongoing need for widespread action to reduce the negative impacts of these toxic pieces of trash. Annually, an estimated six trillion cigarettes are smoked worldwide, and 4.5 trillion cigarettes are littered into our environment. Unfortunately, cigarette butts aren’t the only tobacco-related item found during cleanups. Smoking waste — including butts, packaging, plastic lighters, and vapes — makes up the second most common category of trash collected, accounting for 25% of all items cataloged at Surfrider cleanups.

Additionally, the report looks at how cleanups create lasting change through data-informed policy action to ultimately stop the flow of single-use plastic pollution into our environment, examining successes like California’s plastic bag ban and Skip the Stuff policies across the country.

2025 marks the ninth year of REEF’s presenting sponsorship of Surfrider’s national beach cleanup program through the Better Beach Alliance, and a new partner in Costa joining as an official sponsor to help us grow the impact of this important programmatic work. This alliance serves to encourage everyone — individuals, organizations, and businesses — to play an active role in protecting our coasts and to recognize that actions big and small can contribute to the movement to end plastic pollution.

We are incredibly grateful to have a dedicated network of volunteers and sponsors who share our love for the ocean. We encourage you to join us by connecting with your local Surfrider chapter to participate in this beach cleanup program that provides crucial data to implement widespread changes to stop plastic pollution at the source. When we all work together to fight single-use plastics, we can keep our ocean and beaches clean from plastic pollution today and for future generations.