After The Cleanup

Finished cleaning up? Here’s what to do next.

Be Safe!

During the COVID-19 pandemic please take the follow precautions for health and safety:

• After carefully removing gloves, volunteers should thoroughly wash hands and arms with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not immediately available, volunteers should use hand sanitizer (alcohol content of 70% or higher) to clean hands and then wash hands again when soap and water are available.
• Do NOT put loose trash or full trash bags in overflowing trash receptacles or bins.
• Any gear used during a cleanup such as litter grabbers, reusable gloves or buckets should be sanitized immediately after the activity.
• Is your designated data recorder ready to submit your finds? Make sure to follow all of the steps on Clean Swell®to review and then submit your data. Your data automatically submits to Ocean Conservancy’s database when you see a “Thank You!” screen.

Share Your Results

After your volunteers submit their data on Clean Swell®. Encourage them to share their cleanup on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Tag Ocean Conservancy on Facebook, on Twitter as @ourocean, and on Instagram as @oceanconservancy.

If your volunteers used data cards, enter them into Ocean Conservancy’s database! Create an account, select your location on the map and enter your information. Double check to ensure the date, number of participants, weight and distance are correct and with the correct units.

If you have any questions, or would like to share photos or highlights, feel free to reach out to Ocean Conservancy:

• Email: [email protected]
• Mail: Ocean Conservancy
  Attn: International Coastal Cleanup®
• 1300 19th St NW, 8th Floor
  Washington, DC 20036

Survey your cleanup team post-event. Encourage everyone to share experiences, stories and pictures about what they saw. This might encourage others to attend future events—and now is the time to start planning. Let them know about your next cleanup; get volunteers onboard while their enthusiasm is high! Check out our page on marine debris educational resources.

Say Thanks

Send out an email saying, “Look what we did!” Include how many friends, family and community members joined in and the weight of trash were collected. Celebrate your accomplishment as a cleanup organizers and ocean advocate. Thank you!