This year’s California Coastal Cleanup Day included cleanup events in all 58 counties across the Golden State for the first time in its 41-year history. The Pacific Beach Coalition proudly represented San Mateo County offering 11 cleanup sites and four habitat restoration events along the coast from Daly City to Half Moon Bay and across the peninsula to Foster City.

Site captains at each cleanup location hid “trashure” scrolls for lucky participants to find. The winners received gift cards to local Pacifica businesses or a set of pelican notecards from Half Moon Bay artist and our longtime supporter Caren Loebel-Fried.

We also welcomed visits from esteemed local dignitaries, including District 1 City Councilmember Mayra Espinoza at Esplanade Beach, District 4 City Councilmember Greg Wright at Rockaway Beach, Foster City Mayor Stacy Jimenez at Baywinds Park in Foster City, Montara Water & Sanitary District Manager Bill Softky at Montara State Beach, and Pacifica Mayor Sue Beckmeyer and San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller at Linda Mar Beach.

So how much trash did our Earth Heroes collect? Check out these impressive results across all of our sites!

PBC Coastal Cleanup Day 2025 Results

• 19 sites
• 792 volunteers
• 1,951 pounds of landfill trash
• 245 pounds of recyclables
• 1,105 pounds of green waste (weeds)
• 12,352 cigarette filters

CA Coastal Commission Results from Across the State*

• 19,987 volunteers
• 139,650 pounds of landfill trash
• 38,646 pounds of recyclables

*As of September 20, 2025

Highlights from Our Cleanup Sites

Baywinds Park, Foster City Cleanup

Our group cleaned behind the golf range on 3rd Avenue, along the levee, up the trails, in the parking lot, and along the street. Cub Scout Pack 153 (San Carlos), Gilead Green Community, various schools, and individuals helped clean up the Baywinds Park and surrounding area. Among the usual trash suspects, volunteers collected a toilet, a small dog house, carpet and rugs, a very large oxygen tank, and 350 golf balls. A true testament that you never know what you might discover during a cleanup!

Esplanade Beach Cleanup

One of our regular volunteers found one of the hidden trashure bottles! Other volunteers discovered unusual finds including a rusty lawn chair on the beach, a woman’s brooch, a black fabric glove, a foam roller, a hat, and a Styrofoam block.

Linda Mar Habitat Restoration

For this event we focused on watering and mulching. Susan and Scott from the watering team led the public volunteers and some of the JP Morgan crew in watering both the Linda Mar and the Rockaway sides of the trail. One of the public volunteers brought their dog so we had our own HR mascot helping us out with watering!

In terms of mulching, the rest of the JP Morgan crew was able to cover a whole section of the hill by the lower mulch pile on the Linda Mar side. Both groups were great, and we were able to watch some pelicans dive to feed while we were sharing all the cool facts about them to the volunteers.

Mussel Rock Cleanup

What a great group of volunteers, including visitors from Finland! Scout Troop 28 was so enthusiastic; it was exciting to see them jump onto action. Our new Junior Site Captains were terrific at explaining the value of coastal cleanup and then answering questions.

PBC Naturalist, Julie, gave a talk about safety, the history of Mussel Rock, the San Andreas fault, and the Clean Swell app. Everyone was excited about the whales that showed up to thank us for our work. We had so many volunteers lined up to watch them play in the ocean.  

Congratulations to the father and three daughters who found one of the trashure scrolls.

Pillar Point Harbor Cleanup, Half Moon Bay

We had a wonderful turnout at Pillar Point Harbor! The weather was that “California Beautiful” of which the rest of the country is jealous. Overall, there were 102 volunteers including Shah Satnam Ji Green-S Welfare Force, a very large group from the Sacramento area. They enjoyed themselves and set up tables of food for everyone afterwards.

Kathryn Slater-Carter, president of the San Mateo County Harbor District, addressed the group before they headed out. Our new Teen Site captains are stars already! Meena, Lily, and Zidan handled the crowd like pros and were very proactive.

Rockaway Beach Cleanup

Rockaway welcomed a big group from Buddha’s Light International Association and students from Oceana and Terra Nova high schools. Teen Site Captains Giovanni and Caly were very helpful in giving Clean Swell app instructions. Naturalist Kelly had a really fun table where people brought her different-colored trash, including a pair of sunglasses.

Volunteers returned with fishing tackle, a gas cap, and some weird bait bugs. We also had a visit from a pod of dolphins, which was exciting for everyone to see.

San Pedro Creek Cleanup

We had a great turnout, including eight volunteers from Troop 74 Scouts and another 12 volunteers from Terra Nova High School. The teens were an enthusiastic bunch. They went all the way into the creek with Jim and collected buckets and buckets of trash.

Sharp Park Beach Cleanup

Sharp Park volunteers were buzzing with excitement and positive energy. It was Site Captain Nick’s first Coastal Cleanup Day event, and he jumped right in. Sam Martinez, a Conservation Outreach Associate at The Marine Mammal Center, joined us for the day to help educate the public on marine mammal entanglements and even brought a California seal lion pelt for people to touch. In addition, members of Skyline College’s Phi Theta Kappa participated in the cleanup, and a reporter from The Skyline View covered the event.

Many volunteers were on a mission to extract trash from anywhere they could reach. As a result, they brought back unusual finds including an old stool, broken electrical wire, a large crab trap, and a broken fishing rod.

Thornton Vista Cleanup

It was a healthy California Coastal Cleanup Day turnout at Thornton Vista in Daly City. Kudos to a large group from Cornerstone Trinity Baptist Church that graciously took the charge. Our fun-find this week was a blue velveteen dog bobblehead, which our new naturalist, Nicole, quickly added to her collection. Thank you all for coming out, and a shout-out to PBC Board Member Pete for addressing our participants at the beginning of our cleanup.

Thornton Vista Habitat Restoration

Our group focused on pulling small weeds from the previously mulched rectangular strip at the park’s entrance as well as ice plant and cape ivy from native plants on the north side of the parking area. These efforts will encourage growth of already established low-growing coyote brush, lizard tail, and yarrow. We can’t wait to see how everything grows in.

Many thanks to Daly City Parks Department and to Carlo for providing 200 gallons of water. The plants appreciate it and are looking great!

Honoring President Lynn Adams

After a rewarding day of cleaning up beaches and neighborhoods, a small group of volunteers and supporters got together at El Toro Loco in Pacifica to celebrate. Eben Schwartz, Marine Debris Program Manager at California Coastal Commission, honored PBC President Lynn Adams with a surprise proclamation to commemorate her contributions to the community during her illustrious tenure.

Each Piece Makes a Difference

On September 20, 2025, volunteers from across the state gathered together to help make our great state cleaner and greener. This initiative led to the collection and removal of more than 89 tons of trash that could have ended up in the Pacific Ocean — or worse, consumed by or entangled around innocent wildlife. You made this happen! We hope you feel inspired by your commitment to community action and welcome you back at a PBC cleanup again. Be sure to visit our calendar to sign up for your next cleanup.