A statewide effort to keep beaches clean hits the Central Coast

GUADALUPE, Calif. -- Keeping our beaches and in turn our ocean clean can help our environment, marine life, climate change and even our economy according to advocates.

The California Coastal Commission is pushing their annual statewide effort Coastal Clean Up Day to spread awareness of beach clean ups.

The annual event happens every third Saturday in September, this year it will land on Sept. 21 and local beaches across the Central Coast will be participating.

Coastal Cleanup Day is California's largest annual volunteer event. It is an opportunity for people across the state to pick up trash in creeks, rivers, lakes, coast, and shorelines because trash from across the state ends up in the ocean.

Statewide Director of Coastal Cleanup Day, Eben Schwartz, said 80% of trash picked up on the annual event is plastic, single use disposable plastic that releases plastic pollution. Volunteers have picked up millions of pounds of trash since the 70's and this year are celebrating their official 40th anniversary.

Trash and toxins in the ocean impact human life, marine life, climate change and in the long run the economy. People can help at a local beach any day but specifically can join a volunteer crew on Sept. 21. from Oxnard, Santa Barbara, Lompoc and Pismo Beach.

California Coastal Cleanup Day is organized by the California Coastal Commission in partnership with many NGOs and local government partners around the state. It is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, organized by the Ocean Conservancy, which is the largest volunteer event in the world.