SOLANO COUNTY, CA (MPG) - Community members gathered on the morning of Sept. 20 and picked up more than 21,827 pounds of trash and 903 pounds of recyclable beverage containers over the course of three hours as part of Solano County’s Coastal Cleanup Day volunteer event.  

Approximately 1,197 total volunteers in all seven cities in the county showed up to the 40 Coastal Cleanup Day sites. Individuals, families and groups from local schools and community organizations spent the morning making sure that pollution from our cities didn’t flow into our waterways. Cleanup sites ranged from local parks, like Sandy Beach in Rio Vista, to smaller creeks, like Rindler Creek in Vallejo.  

This year, the California Coastal Commission’s theme for the statewide event was “The World’s First Trashure Hunt,” which encouraged participants to not only go out in search of litter, but to also search for prizes hidden at cleanup sites. The Solano County grand prize of two season passes to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom was discovered by Kimberly, a volunteer at the Lower Ledgewood Creek site in Fairfield.

“It’s amazing to see volunteers eager to participate in cleanups like this, willing to sacrifice parts of their day to make a difference in the world. Kimberly, who won the grand prize, was really excited the moment she found the “trashure chest.” She was speechless!” said Assistant Engineer at the Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District, Melvin Aquino, who coordinated the Fairfield and Suisun City sites.  “It seemed like a great opportunity to be with my friends and do something positive and impact change in our community.” 

California Coastal Cleanup Day is the largest single volunteer event held in the country each year. This is the event’s 41st year, and over that time, over 1.5 million volunteers have participated. Not only does Coastal Cleanup Day prevent waste from entering our waterways and flowing into the Pacific Ocean, but it also acts as a valuable data collection opportunity. Volunteers record the type of litter they collect either by hand or in the CleanSwell app. This provides local and statewide officials with valuable information that can inspire new policies to help prevent litter getting into our waterways.  

Lower Union Creek Volunteer is seen picking up trash during the Solano County’s Coastal Cleanup Day volunteer event. Photo courtesy of the Solano Resource Conservation District

Robyn Slater, Lead Educator at Solano Resource Conservation District and the coordinator for the Vacaville city cleanup sites, noted the immediate impact the event had on the community, saying that ”several people attending the regular farmers market downtown thanked volunteers for their hard work cleaning up Andrews Park; they were amazed at what a difference just a few hours of picking up litter can make.”

Similarly, Chris, a volunteer at the nearby Winco site, said, “It’s nice that almost everyone who passed by on a walk or bike ride thanked me!” 

In Solano County, Coastal Cleanup Day is coordinated by Solano Resource Conservation District on behalf of the cities and County of Solano and local wastewater agencies. The next county-wide cleanup event will be held in April 2026. Keep an eye on cleanupsolano.org for more information in the spring.