By Nico Patakidis

2026 marks the 42nd year of Coastal Cleanup Day, California’s largest annual volunteer event dedicated to removing trash from beaches and inland waterways statewide. 

For this year’s Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 19, the Cal Poly Humboldt chapter of Surfrider Foundation came together at the Humboldt Bay Aquatic Center to clean up trash along the bay shore. Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit organization that advocates for protecting our oceans, shorelines and marine life. 

Beginning at 10 a.m., Surfrider members and volunteers gathered at the Aquatic Center before splitting into groups to divide and conquer the trash polluting the bay. In partnership with Outdoor Adventures, cleanup volunteers took to kayaks and paddled around the bay, picking up trash floating on the water. Having never been in a kayak before, sophomore marine biology major Christian Hutchin grabbed a paddle, a bucket, and got right to cleaning up. 

Those who weren’t paddling the bay grouped up to walk the shoreline with buckets, empty soil bags and a sheet to track their trash. The sheet listed various kinds of trash: plastic cups, bottle caps, cigarette butts and more. Surfrider co-president and business marketing major Riley McDaniel said the trackers are reviewed after the event and recorded by the Surfrider Foundation headquarters, allowing them to focus efforts on eliminating certain kinds of trash that appear most on the trackers. 

In addition to Surfrider members, plenty of community members showed up to contribute as well. Surfrider member and junior archeology major Zoe Good-Brummer attended cleanup days in the past and found the work to be rewarding and therapeutic. This time, she brought along her friend Lauren Sherfy, a junior wildlife major.

“I just wanted to do my bit for my community, for the environment and help keep it clean as best we could,” Sherfy said. 

Surfrider also partnered with the natural resources club, bringing in another group of individuals that are passionate about the environment to assist with beach cleanup. Natural resources club member Jess Ricketts was brought one step closer to her goal for this year, to make a difference and clean up the environment in any way– big or small. Beyond cleaning up the coast, volunteer and junior art education major Taylor Roberts enjoyed the community-oriented aspect of the event. 

“Being at school here… just how lovely and accepting this community has been inspired me to want to give back to it, make my way to be a part of it and make a positive change,” Roberts said. “And I guess to help everyone around, including the fish.” 

The day ended at 1 p.m. with 460 pounds of trash being picked up along Humboldt Bay, made possible by a total of 100 volunteers. Co-president of the Surfrider club and senior molecular biology major Mia Riordan said that the club usually hosts a coastal cleanup day once a month, but the turnout has never been so large. 

“I have never seen even a quarter of this many people at beach cleanup,” Riordan said. “It’s really awesome to see such a community wanting to work together to keep our oceans safe and our beaches clean.”

Nico is a reporter with an interest in covering local government and political affairs. Reach him at np211@humboldt.edu.