VolunteerCleanup.org

VolunteerCleanup.Org is a Miami based grassroots environmental 501c3 focused on raising awareness on the amount of plastic pollution in the ocean and waterways by having volunteers participate in cleanups as a hands-on, eye-opening experience that shocks the conscious. 

We are NOT a beach cleanup organization, but rather a community building technology provider that provides the tools that connect cleanup organizers and volunteers, along with the educational and material support to ensure impactful cleanup that educate volunteers on the sources, how they can reduce single-use plastics in their own lives, and encouraging them to take further action within their sphere of influence. Our work has successfully started a movement in South Florida - helping facilitate over 4,000 cleanups where 36,000 volunteers have removed over 800,000 pounds of debris from our shorelines and neighborhoods. 

Our top programs and initiatives:

• VolunteerCleanup.Org website - serves as a free event management platform (like Eventbrite) that connects cleanup organizers and volunteers. Hosts can post their events, while volunteers can search for and register to participate in them. We also provide supplies and educational materials to help the organizers lead educational and impactful cleanups that provides both immediate impact to the local marine environment and long-term behavior changes for individual participants.
• New Trashathon.org fundraising platform which is an innovative twist on the classic “a-thons” fundraisers, where participants solicit pledges for litter removal from neighborhoods or shorelines to raise money for their group or project (ie, water bottle refills, class trips, funding non-profits), while also spreading awareness of the marine debris crisis and solutions. Trashathon fundraisers turn trash into cash, and action into impact.
• International Coastal Cleanup Day: We are the Ocean Conservancy's local partner on the ground and coordinate Miami-Dade County's participation in International Coastal Cleanup Day each September. We organize 70+ simultaneous shoreline cleanups all over Miami-Dade with 3,500 volunteers removing 25,000 pounds of marine debris from our beaches and Biscayne Bay.
• Corporate Days of Service: We lead private corporate and group days of service and team-building shoreline cleanups that are educational, fun, engaging, and impactful. Through this experience, we lead employees in discussions about how their business can play a role in reducing waste and unnecessary single-use plastics.
• Government Policy: We strategically engage with local governments (both elected and staff) to drive policy and maintenance changes that reduce the amount of single-use plastics that make their way into Biscayne Bay through stormwater systems, canals, and ineffective waste management. Our activation and advocacy has made direct structural changes that are reducing the input going into our waterways.