California Coastal Cleanup Day: Fremont residents works to protect the San Francisco Bay

By Staff Writers Hamnah Akhtar & Alice Hu

Piles of trash bags lined the streets at cleanup sites as Fremont residents partook in the 2026 California Coastal Cleanup Day. Held on September 19, the state’s largest annual volunteer event gathered 157 volunteers in Fremont to collect litter at sites around the city.     

The cleanup event encouraged volunteers to remove trash and plastic pollution from local waterways before it harms wildlife or enters the ocean. Cleanup sites at Central Park, Crandall Creek, Downtown Fremont, Blacow Road, and Grimmer Boulevard hold storm drains and creek channels that carry runoff and debris directly into the bay. 

To address this issue, volunteers spread out across their designated cleanup area, carrying green reflective vests, litter pickers, and plastic bags. They collected trash from 9 a.m. to noon, filling bags with litter like tissues, confetti, and cigarettes left on the ground. “Whatever you’re doing here, it’s helping out nature, the environment, and animals,” JFK Sophomore Ammaar Ali said. 

MSJ Green Club participated in California Coastal Cleanup Day by addressing marine pollution issues in a separate, student-organized cleanup activity. The event, held at a park in Ardenwood Plaza, offered service hours to participating MSJ students for picking up trash. 

After the event concluded, organizers separated and measured the trash, uploading the data onto an app called Clean Swell. Created by marine nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, the app enters logged data into a global database that scientists and researchers use to study marine debris trends. This year, Fremont gathered 1,460 pounds of trash, 200 pounds of recyclable materials, and 80 pounds of compostable materials, restoring approximately 136 acres. 

The cleanup is part of a larger mission called the International Coastal Cleanup, which is led by the Ocean Conservancy and spans more than 100 countries. For 41 years, the project has partnered with local organizations like Save the Bay and the California Coastal Commission to mobilize thousands of volunteers across the San Francisco Bay Area. Fremont has participated for roughly two decades. Every September, the City of Fremont Environmental Services Division organizes the coastal cleanup to minimize local debris flow into the ocean.

Events like these create opportunities to reduce pollution in local neighborhoods and parks. “Even our storm drains connect to the bay, so if you throw trash in the street, it’s going to wash down the storm drain and end up in the bay,” City of Fremont Environmental Services Department Sustainability Coordinator Maddi Martin said. Looking ahead, “[Volunteers] hopefully will take home some more environmental stewardship [and] apply sustainable practices to their own life,” Martin said.