Indian River Lagoon Coastal Cleanup

In Celebration of International Coastal Cleanup Day, communities in Brevard County, Florida, rallied to collect and document the trash littering coastlines, identify the sources of debris, and improve vital shoreline habitats.

6 ~ Cleanup Locations ~ 25 Miles of Shoreline Cleaned!

Saturday, September 19, 2026, 267 GreenSpace Water Alliance volunteers cleaned approximately 25 miles of lagoon shoreline, removing an incredible 4,119 pounds of trash and debris from our coastal environment.

This event was about more than picking up trash. Volunteers also participated in citizen science by documenting the types of litter they encountered. Their work provides valuable insight into the debris accumulating along our waterways while helping prevent thousands of items from remaining in or reaching the Indian River Lagoon, which is officially classified as an impaired waterway by environmental regulators and faces severe ecological threats.

Volunteer Impact

267 Volunteers
Individuals, families, businesses, organizations, schools, and community groups donated their time to make a measurable difference.

4,119 Pounds of Trash Collected
Thousands of pounds of litter and debris were removed from lagoon shorelines and surrounding coastal areas.

18,095 Total Items Documented
Volunteers didn't just collect trash—they counted and categorized litter to help us better understand what is accumulating along our waterways.

25 Miles of Lagoon Shoreline Cleaned
Volunteer teams worked across multiple locations to create a cleaner coastline and healthier habitat.

Small Pieces. Big Impact.

One of the most striking findings from the cleanup was the amount of small debris volunteers encountered.

Volunteers documented 2,313 cigarette butts, 2,192 tiny plastic pieces, and 855 tiny foam pieces—a combined 5,360 pieces of small litter.

These easily overlooked items accounted for nearly 30% of every item documented during the entire cleanup.

Once small plastics, foam, cigarette filters, and other debris enter the aquatic environment, recovering them becomes increasingly difficult. Removing litter from shorelines gives volunteers an opportunity to address the problem before more debris can disperse throughout the lagoon.

What Did We Find?

The cleanup data tells an important story about the types of litter reaching our coastal environment.

The Top 10 most frequently documented items accounted for 12,375 pieces of litter, representing more than 68% of all 18,095 items documented during the cleanup.

Top Items Collected

Cigarette Butts 2,313

Tiny Trash Plastic Pieces 2,192

Construction Materials 1,472

Food Wrappers 1,291

Plastic Beverage Bottles 1,214

Beverage Cans 1,030

Tiny Trash Foam Pieces 855

Plastic Bottle Caps 683

Fishing Line ft 680

Glass Beverage Bottles 645

More Than a Cleanup

Citizen Science in Action

Every bag of trash removed makes a visible difference. But understanding what we remove can help create an even greater long-term impact.

That's why GreenSpace Water Alliance incorporates citizen science into the Indian River Lagoon Coastal Cleanup.

Volunteers help identify and count the litter they collect. This turns hundreds of individual acts of service into a larger dataset that helps reveal the types of debris accumulating along our shorelines.

The results show that the litter problem isn't limited to bottles and cans. Tiny plastics, cigarette butts, foam, fishing line, food packaging, bottle caps, and construction debris collectively make up a significant portion of what volunteers encounter.

We don't just want to pick up litter. We want to better understand it, prevent it, and inspire our community to become part of the solution.

Donate Today & Help Power Future Cleanups

Your Support Makes This Possible

Community cleanups require more than volunteers.

They require cleanup supplies, gloves, bags, litter collection equipment, data cards, volunteer coordination, outreach, disposal vehicles and logistics, event materials, and people willing to organize teams across miles of shoreline.

Sponsors, donors, businesses, and community partners make that possible.

Their support allows GreenSpace Water Alliance to recruit more volunteers, equip cleanup teams, expand into additional locations, improve citizen-science efforts, and engage more people in protecting the Indian River Lagoon.

A contribution to the Indian River Lagoon Coastal Cleanup isn't simply funding an event.

It's putting cleanup equipment into a volunteer's hands.

It's helping remove litter from another mile of shoreline.

It's engaging another family or student in environmental stewardship.

It's helping build a community that takes responsibility for the future of its waterways.