What We Find

Beach sweeps by the numbers

Over the past 8 years, we’ve hosted 475 clean ups involving over 15,000 volunteers! Wow!

  • In 2023, we held 46 clean ups involving 2,040 volunteers 
  • In 2022, we held 53 clean ups involving 1,894 volunteers
  • In 2021, we held 66 clean ups involving 1,843 volunteers
  • In 2020, we held 53 clean ups involving 1,469 volunteers
  • In 2019, we held 74 beach cleans involving over 3,200 volunteers
  • In 2018, we held 71 beach cleanings involving 2,163 volunteers
  • In 2017, we held 65 clean ups involving 1,987 volunteers
  • In 2016, we held 47 clean ups involving 1,146 volunteers

Types of trash we find…

Total frequency distribution of beach trash by item for all beach sweeps where litter was sorted and counted:

1. Butts & smoking related materials (packaging, lighters) – nearly 70% of all beach trash

*UPDATE – since the passage of the smoke and vape-free beach ordinance in 2021, beach butt litter has fallen by over 80%!

2. Straws & straw wrappers & stirrers

3. Plastic bottle caps

4. Snack wrappers & food packaging

5. Styrofoam pieces

6. Paper & cardboard

7. Plastic fragments, all sizes

8. Aluminum cans

9. Plastic bags & baggies

10. Plastic bottles

11. Plastic beach toys

Notes

– We’ve counted over 400,000 butts from Tybee’s beach in 3 years and removed tens of thousands more that were not counted; 245,500 have been recycled with Terracycle

– The Top Ten trash items account for over 93% of all beach trash removed