Pollution Busting in Long Beach

By Margaret Gill

Do you want to help save the planet, but aren’t sure where to start? Try taking part in a community clean up! In just an hour or two, you can have a big impact on the environment and help transform your neighborhood or favorite beach into a more beautiful place.

A love for the beach and a desire to make a difference in their own community is exactly what inspired Vanessa Hurtado and Brendan Hamme to found Alamitos Beach Clean Up in 2015. “We love the ocean. We love kayaking, paddle boarding and just lounging on the beach, but when we moved here, we noticed just how dirty the beaches were,” says Hurtado. “We wanted to make a difference on our own, so we got our friends together and it just grew from there.”

What started as a group of friends out trying to tidy up their favorite beach turned into a movement that you can be part of too. Every fourth Sunday of the month, from 10AM to 11AM, people from all over Long Beach as well as L.A., Riverside, and Orange County come to help pick up trash from Long Beach’s iconic Alamitos Beach. “It’s really cool to see how many people care about the environment and want to make a difference.”

Participating is completely free! Gloves, bags, and even a parking code are provided so that all you have to do is show up! “We encourage everybody to just come for an hour out of their day and help us clean up the beaches, make our oceans cleaner, protect the wildlife, and make the beaches beautiful for visitors.”

In just an hour, participants in Alamitos Beach Clean Ups typically collect one hundred pounds of trash that would otherwise litter the beach and pollute the ocean.

It only takes a little bit of time to make a big difference! Here are six clean ups you can join to help make Long Beach a safer, cleaner, and more beautiful place to live!

Beach Clean Ups

Alamitos Beach Clean Up

@alamitosbeachcleanup

Every fourth Sunday of the month, from 10AM to 11AM

Surfrider Foundation | longbeach.surfrider.org | @lbsurfrider

Every first Saturday of the month at Belmont Pier at Ocean and 39th Place 10AM to 12:00PM

Justin Rudd’s 30 Minute Beach Clean Up | justinrudd.com

Every third Saturday of the month at 1 Granada Ave., Belmont Shore 10AM to 10:30AM

Save Our Beach

saveourbeach.org

Every third Saturday of the month 1st Street, Seal Beach 9AM to 12PM

Street Clean Ups!

Clean Streets | calheights.org

@cleanstreetscalheights

Every Thursday morning 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM on the corner of Wardlow Rd. and Lime Ave. in Cal Heights

AOC7 Community Clean Up

aoc7neighborhood.com | @aocseven

Every third Saturday 8:30AM to 10:30AM - street locations rotate, so be sure to check out their Neighborhood Events on their website or their Facebook.