Coastal Cleanup Day Sees Thousands of Pounds of Trash Hauled Off Santa Barbara Beaches, Creeks, and Parks

Volunteers Collect More than 3,600 Pounds of Trash, Uncovered Hidden Treasures Along County’s Coastline

Beach Cleanup crew at the harbor | Credit: Kevin Childerley

In just a few hours, volunteers in Santa Barbara collected more than 3,600 pounds of trash from local beaches, creeks, and parks for the annual Coastal Cleanup Day last Saturday.

Common items included plastic pieces, cigarette butts, and food wrappers, but there were a few surprises: a curling iron, 53 pounds of golf balls (530 balls total) at just one site, a pink butterfly stiletto, and even a rattlesnake hiding beneath a pile of debris.

Volunteers at Jalama with haul of trash | Credit: Courtesy
Arroyo Burro beach volunteers | Credit: Kevin Childerley
You never know what you’ll find! Santa Claus Lane volunteers find beer and Fireball | Credit: Paul Wellman

Winner of the Trashure Hunt prize, Madison Heffentrager | Credit: Veronica Lee

Explore Ecology and the County of Santa Barbara Resource Recovery and Waste Management Division organized the local rendition of the statewide event. This year’s cleanup brought together 1,038 volunteers at dozens of sites from Jalama to Rincon.

Preliminary reports show that participants removed 3,611 pounds of litter while covering 61 miles of coastline and inland waterways.

“We’re thrilled that so many community members showed up last Saturday and took a stand for clean beaches and creeks,” said Jill Cloutier, public relations director for Explore Ecology.

She mentioned that this year marked the first ever “trashure hunt,” which included small treasure chests hidden at cleanup sites across the state. In Santa Barbara, the prize was a two-night stay at the Cuyama Buckhorn Boutique Resort.

Winner of the 2025 Most Unusual Item contest was a volunteer along the Santa Rosa Creek in Sonoma County who found an emotional support pickle | Credit: Courtesy

“In Santa Barbara, with minutes to spare, volunteer Madison Heffentrager discovered the treasure chest at Arroyo Burro Beach! Congratulations, Madison! Special thanks to the California Coastal Commission for coordinating this fun statewide scavenger hunt,” Cloutier said.

Tens of thousands of volunteers participated across California, and preliminary results show that 19,987 volunteers removed more than 178,000 pounds of debris statewide.

A lucky volunteer at a site in Sonoma County won the state’s 2025 Most Unusual Item contest with an “emotional support pickle.”

Explore Ecology is inviting volunteers who participated in the cleanup to fill out a short Coastal Cleanup Survey to be entered into a drawing for a $250 Visa gift card and a Coast Lover’s Prize Package.