8 Ways to Make Coastal Cleanups Popular at The Office

Summertime coastal cleanups are a lot of hard work. How do you get people at the office onboard? Here are 8 simple ways to encourage employees to join your green team coastal cleanup day.

Few things are as green as protecting and preserving our oceans, beaches, and coastal waterways.

With oil spills, more plastic than fish in the sea, and floating garbage islands – these natural treasures really do need your help. Getting your office involved is well worth the effort.

Soon it will be September 18^th, otherwise known as International Coastal Cleanup Day! This year, you have time to inspire everyone to take part in a company-wide mission to clean-up a local beach or waterway and to correctly recycle the materials that you find there.

Here are 8 easy ways to popularize fun coastal cleanups at work.

 #1: Launch an Educational Initiative

The fastest way to get employees excited about a beach cleanup day, is through an educational initiative or program. Pick a nearby location and explain the positive impact that can be made there.

Instead of teaching your company about the broad need for clean-ups in the world, personalize it for them. Host talks, live videos and send out newsletters highlighting a local space that needs work. You can also use a platform like Recycle Coach for customized company-wide educational rollouts.

#2: Make It Part of a Team-Building Exercise

One of the most in-demand skills in the workplace these days is teamwork. Coming together to learn how to collaborate for a cause, like cleaning up a local landmark, is a first-rate learning experience.

With 50% of positive communication change happening due to social interaction outside of the workplace, these coastal cleanups can knit together a fragmented team. Get your leadership on board with the idea, and frame it as an essential team-building exercise for your company.

#3: Link it with a Team-Fundraising Experience

If your green team has been charged with fundraising for a cause this year, why not use team-fundraising (also called peer-to-peer) to raise money for prominent beach cleanup groups?

It’s a double whammy on the corporate responsibility scale, as your office teams split up to pick up trash and recyclables on a local beach or waterway, while being sponsored to do so. Take the day to clean up a local treasure, while raising money to fund the pros who do it every day!

#4: Fundraise for Beach Cleanup Organizations

Coastal clean-ups are important for the people and animals who live in these areas. If you don’t live near an open body of water, host a fundraiser to support the incredible companies who do this work.

Some 71% of employees say that it’s imperative that their workplace culture supports giving and volunteering initiatives. This summer, get your green team involved in researching which cleanup organizations need your help most – then help them raise the money to make a difference.

Companies like our friends at 4Ocean, sell products to raise money for ongoing ocean clean-ups.

#5: Educate Through Performance Art

Beach cleanups give your green team the opportunity to educate through art. Create amazing installations in the lunchroom or canteen that communicate your message to your workforce.

Some ideas might be to screen ‘Seaspiracy’ after work, or to build a plastic sculpture of a fish, using the plastic you recover from a cleanup. Whatever you decide to do, make sure that the employees understand the importance of keeping your local coastal areas free of trash and recyclables.

#6: Focus on a Particular Local Species

Even though many employees may care about your local coastal areas, they may not want to spend the time picking up trash there. To motivate them, pick a local species that will benefit from the cleanup! Sometimes it helps when you emphasize how much good coastal cleanups do.

The Alabama Beach Mouse for example, is a cute, endangered species of mouse that lives in sand dunes of coastal Alabama. Pick turtles or plovers, or another cherished local species to help.

#7: Invite Other Company Green Teams & Volunteers

What better way to build community unity than with a coastal cleanup day? Invite other green-conscious businesses in your area and descend on your beaches as one enormous team.

Invite the media and build goodwill for your company, and all who help you achieve your cleanup goals. Collect litter and take the time to sort what can be recycled from what goes to the dump.

#8: Build an Annual Coastal Cleanups Recycling Event

Cleaning up your local beach once is great, but there is a good chance it will need your help again and again. Some 15% of all plastic waste tossed into the ocean ends up on a beach somewhere.

Make it part of your workplace culture to host an annual coastal cleanup event, where you all spend the day cleaning, bonding, and helping the environment on a beautiful summer’s day. This recycling event is an educational opportunity, to teach employees how to recycle right.

Use these 8 ideas to motivate your green team and employee volunteers to get more involved with local coastal cleanups – especially on 18^th September. It’s up to every company to take an active role in assisting our natural environment. Don’t just recycle at work, do it everywhere!

Have you ever taken part in a coastal cleanup event? Tell us about it below.