International Coastal Cleanup®

Ready to #SeaTheChange and organize your own cleanup?

Harnessing the Power of People to Fight Ocean Trash

In partnership with volunteer organizations and individuals around the globe, the International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC) engages people to remove trash from the world’s beaches and waterways. Thanks to millions of volunteers around the world, the ICC has become a beacon of hope, leading and inspiring action in support of our ocean. Since ...

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Harnessing the Power of People to Fight Ocean Trash

In partnership with volunteer organizations and individuals around the globe, ...

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Join the communities already benefitting from starting a International Coastal Cleanup®

You'll get guides and resources on how to bring this idea to life.

There is no funding available for this idea in United States, but these resources will still help to make your project happen!

Not in United States? Change your region
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What I have learned from the Cleanup experience is that even though the Cleanup started in Texas with a small number of 2,800 volunteers… it has grown into a massive cleanup that involves both national and international volunteers all pitching in ...

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International Coastal Cleanup®
Renee Tuggle - Texas State Coordinator

How to start a project on ChangeX

  • 1

    Create your project page

    Click the green start button to register and set up your project page. It’s quick, free and easy.

  • 2

    Complete a 30 Day Challenge

    Complete simple steps in 30 days to get your project off the ground.

  • 3

    Activate your project

    Follow the 5 Step Guide and your action plan to bring the project to life.

  • 4

    Share impact

    Share impact by posting a summary and photos and completing a survey.

Great for

  • someone who is passionate about looking after the environment
  • someone who wants to take local action in their own context
  • someone who wants to lead community cleanup initiatives

International Coastal Cleanup® project essentials

5 Step Guide

  • Pick a Location & Contact your Crew
  • Gather Supplies & Plan Ahead
  • On the day
  • After the clean up
  • Stay an ocean advocate

Time

Suggested: It's really up to what you have! Planning your cleanup will take a few hours; hosting your cleanup will take another few hours. You can host them as frequently as you'd like to!

Resources

More information on how to get started and any resources shared by the International Coastal Cleanup®

11 International Coastal Cleanup® projects have already been started

See where

Meet the Social Innovator

Every year during Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup™, hundreds of thousands of volunteers comb lakes, rivers and beaches around the world for trash. Over the course of nearly three decades, more than 9 million volunteers have collected nearly 164 million pounds of trash.

But our ocean needs help more than once a year, and you can take a lead role on the front line of one of the world’s most preventable problems by doing your own beach or waterway cleanup.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why a 30 day challenge?

    The 30 Day Challenge was developed by our Team based on our experience working with communities. We’ve learned that the first weeks are critical to build momentum and get off to a good start with any community project. Teams who complete these steps within the first month are much more likely to successfully complete their project!

    The Challenge is a series of simple steps that each applicant has to complete to get their project off the ground and unlock funding, if there is funding currently available for that idea in your region. Steps include watching a video and/or reading content, having a call with a ChangeX team member, forming a team so that you have support, having your first team meeting, sharing a team photo, and sharing a project action plan.

  • What can funding be used for?

    Once funding is received it can be used to cover direct set-up costs of the new community project. For example space rental, insurance fees, seeds and planting materials, tools, training fees; pretty much any materials you might need for a project that benefits your community.

    Funds cannot be used for the costs of work that has already been carried out, costs unrelated to the setup and maintenance of the new project, payments to group members for their work on the project. Funds can’t be used for the promotion of religious causes, non-charitable activities, sponsorship or fundraising events. Please read the terms and conditions for further details.

  • How do I know if there is funding available?

    On idea pages, if there is funding available for the idea in your region you will see “Funding available” and the region listed in the turquoise box. When you first login you will also see a green banner at the top of the screen saying “live funds near you” if there is funding available in your region. The ChangeX homepage will feature those live funds near you.

    A note on the waitlist: when all the funding has been allocated to applicants, new applicants will go on a waitlist. If some applicants that are in the fund don’t successfully complete the 30 Day Challenge their funding will be released and can be then allocated to those on the waitlist. To see if you are going on a waitlist check the main fund page, ideas fully allocated will have the note “Join the waitlist” instead of “Apply to start”.

  • What is ChangeX?

    ChangeX is a platform that connects communities to proven ideas and funding.

    By empowering local changemakers with proven ideas from social innovators and accessible funding from our partners, we aim to build healthier, more inclusive and sustainable communities. Our work is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and together with our partners, we aim to impact 1 billion people globally by 2030.

    • Communities: Get the funding, resources and support you need to start impactful projects in your community.
    • Social innovators: Connect with local changemakers, access funding to scale your idea, and impact more communities globally.
    • Funders: Fund the themes and regions they care most about, with measurable impact, and at global scale.

    We believe that by bringing the best social innovations and the world’s changemakers together in a shared community, we can accelerate the spread of innovations across the world and have a bigger impact. Together we aim to unleash the potential of changemakers by enabling collaboration, by sharing knowledge and resources, by connecting changemakers across different disciplines and innovations and by opening up access to the world’s best proven social innovations to everyone.

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  • Open Orchard

    Organise an Open Orchard to bring people together, provide free fruit to local residents and green our urban environments.

  • Neighborhood Forest

    Growing the Indoor Forest – Building, Sharing, and Caring for Indoor Plants

  • Eartheasy School Garden

    From launching your garden committee to hosting a school-wide ‘dig day’, learn how to start a school garden for education, eating, and fun.

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