Marine debris removal ranges from volunteer beach cleanups to multi-year recovery missions for fishing gear, vessels, and river waste. The figures below document reported removals by the 2024 and 2022 International Coastal Cleanup, NOAA-supported projects, and other named programs. They measure what particular projects collected during stated periods—not all debris in the ocean.
Table of contents
- Global cleanup totals and reach
- The debris items volunteers find most often
- U.S. coastal and waterway removals in 2024
- Florida and Gulf-region projects
- Protected habitats and large-scale recovery
- Derelict gear, vessels, rivers, and estuaries
Global cleanup totals and reach
The 2024 International Coastal Cleanup provides a broad snapshot of organized removal activity. During the 2024 ICC, 486,706 volunteers participated worldwide. The campaign reported 7,467,721 pounds of trash removed, also reported as 3,387,301 kilograms. Those are two unit expressions of the same reported removal total, so they should not be added together. The figures come from Ocean Conservancy’s 2024 International Coastal Cleanup Locations report.
The 2024 campaign covered 15,304.3 miles of beach and waterway cleanup locations, or 24,629.8 kilometers. It also logged 17,820,206 collected items. The distance and item counts describe the scale of recorded cleanup activity, while the weight describes the material removed. They are different measures and cannot be treated as interchangeable indicators of debris density.
For a comparison point, the 2022 International Coastal Cleanup mobilized 469,482 volunteers and recorded 15,519,392 collected items. These 2022 figures are reported in Ocean Conservancy’s “#Sea the Change: 2022 ICC Data at a Glance”. The 2022 and 2024 campaigns are separate annual reports; the available figures do not establish a trend in total debris because the reported measures, locations, and participation can differ between campaigns.
| International Coastal Cleanup measure | 2022 ICC | 2024 ICC |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteers | 469,482 | 486,706 |
| Collected items | 15,519,392 | 17,820,206 |
| Reported trash weight | Not listed here | 7,467,721 lb / 3,387,301 kg |
| Cleanup distance | Not listed here | 15,304.3 mi / 24,629.8 km |
The 2024 ICC figures are reported cleanup removals and item logs. They are not an estimate of the amount of marine debris remaining in the ocean, along coastlines, or in waterways.
The debris items volunteers find most often
The 2022 ICC item list shows how many small, familiar products can make up a large cleanup count. Cigarette butts ranked first globally, with 1,860,651 pieces. Plastic beverage bottles ranked second, with 1,175,045 pieces, and food wrappers ranked third, with 998,661 pieces.
Plastic bottle caps ranked fourth at 844,375 pieces. Plastic grocery bags ranked fifth at 622,780 pieces, while other plastic bags ranked sixth at 567,763 pieces. Foam food containers ranked seventh at 463,269 pieces, followed by plastic food containers at 425,637 pieces.
Paper cups and plates ranked ninth, with 423,551 pieces. Plastic straws and stirrers ranked tenth, with 406,557 pieces. The same 2022 ICC report also logged 1,982,302 pieces of plastic or foam smaller than 2.5 centimeters as tiny trash. These counts are item logs, not weight measurements.
| 2022 ICC global item category | Pieces collected | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Cigarette butts | 1,860,651 | 1 |
| Plastic beverage bottles | 1,175,045 | 2 |
| Food wrappers | 998,661 | 3 |
| Plastic bottle caps | 844,375 | 4 |
| Plastic grocery bags | 622,780 | 5 |
| Other plastic bags | 567,763 | 6 |
| Foam food containers | 463,269 | 7 |
| Plastic food containers | 425,637 | 8 |
| Paper cups and plates | 423,551 | 9 |
| Plastic straws and stirrers | 406,557 | 10 |
The item rankings make the composition of recorded litter more visible than a single weight total does. They also show why a cleanup can involve many thousands of pieces even when the material is lightweight. The categories above should be read as the 2022 ICC’s global recorded items for that campaign, not as a universal ranking for every shoreline or season.
U.S. coastal and waterway removals in 2024
The 2024 United States Ocean Trash Index reports state-level results from the 2024 ICC. The table includes coastal, waterway, and some inland cleanup locations, so it is not a shoreline-only comparison. Ocean Conservancy’s 2024 United States Ocean Trash Index reports the following results.
California involved 46,072 volunteers, removed 496,995 pounds of trash, covered 1,648.0 miles, and recorded 353,583 collected items. California volunteers also collected 79,790 cigarette butts.
Florida involved 25,244 volunteers, removed 250,550 pounds of trash, covered 1,236.2 miles, and recorded 733,644 collected items. Florida volunteers collected 109,628 plastic bottle caps.
Alaska involved 736 volunteers, removed 7,851 pounds of trash, and recorded 19,722 collected items. Hawaiʻi involved 854 volunteers, removed 23,839 pounds of trash, and recorded 47,715 collected items. The figures are reported for the 2024 ICC period and retain the source’s state and territory categories.
| Location | Volunteers | Trash removed | Distance or items reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 46,072 | 496,995 lb | 1,648.0 mi; 353,583 items |
| Florida | 25,244 | 250,550 lb | 1,236.2 mi; 733,644 items |
| Alaska | 736 | 7,851 lb | 19,722 items |
| Hawaiʻi | 854 | 23,839 lb | 47,715 items |
These state-level results illustrate why measurement choice matters. Florida’s reported item count was 733,644, while California’s was 353,583, even though California reported more pounds removed. Item mix, collection methods, and the types of locations included can all affect how weight and item totals relate. The supplied reports provide the measurements but do not establish a cause for the difference.
Florida and Gulf-region projects
Florida’s International Coastal Cleanup results sit alongside projects designed for heavier or more specialized debris. A NOAA-supported Gulf of America project reported more than 60,000 pounds of fishing gear collected and removed from the environment. The project sent 45,000 pounds of collected fishing gear for upcycling. It also removed an additional 94,000 pounds of debris through cleanups in 17 marine protected areas.
The same NOAA project reported 154,682 pounds of debris removed in total and engagement from 4,007 volunteers. NOAA identifies the page as “Reducing Marine Debris Across the Gulf of America”; the supplied reporting period is the project reporting period, published in 2026, rather than a stated field year. The “more than” figures are lower bounds, and the total is a project-specific measure.
In Florida’s Charlotte Harbor Aquatic Preserves, a project running from December 2019 through April 2021 removed 4,262 pounds of debris from four artificial reefs. The project also removed 257 anchors, 20 cast nets, and 32 fishing poles from those four reefs. These counts show the distinct forms of derelict gear that can require targeted removal, alongside the project’s overall weight measure. The figures are reported by NOAA’s Charlotte Harbor project page.
Protected habitats and large-scale recovery
Some of the largest reported removals come from remote protected habitats. Marine debris removals in Papahānaumokuākea since 1996 have exceeded 1,400 metric tons. The same long-running effort has removed more than 3 million pounds of primarily derelict fishing gear and plastics. These are cumulative figures from 1996 through the source’s 2026 publication, as reported by NOAA’s Papahānaumokuākea removal page. The two quantities use different units and should not be combined.
The 2018 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands mission removed more than 74 metric tons, or 164,000 pounds, of debris over 41 days in September and October 2018. At Pearl and Hermes Atoll, the operation surveyed and cleaned 2.23 square kilometers of shallow reef and removed more than 51,000 pounds of derelict fishing net.
The second leg of that 2018 mission surveyed and cleaned 1.35 square kilometers of reef plus 0.41 square kilometers of shoreline. It removed more than 63,000 pounds of debris during October 2018. These mission figures are described in NOAA’s Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Debris Project webinar.
On the Alaska Peninsula, a project removed more than 47,000 pounds of debris across the 2021 and 2022 field seasons. The 2021 collection expeditions removed 15,432 pounds, and the 2022 collection expeditions removed 31,888 pounds. These season-specific figures are reported by NOAA’s Cleanup, Recycling, and Recovery on the Alaska Peninsula. The combined multi-season statement is a lower bound because it says “more than.”
Derelict gear, vessels, rivers, and estuaries
Marine debris removal also targets places where waste accumulates in estuaries, rivers, and working waterfronts. More than 400 tons of debris had been removed from the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve by 2016, covering the July 2014–July 2016 period reported by NOAA’s program page. This is a project-period total and a lower bound.
In Richardson Bay, a project running from September 2021 through June 2024 removed 30 abandoned or derelict vessels. It also removed more than 213 tons of debris and more than 700 gallons of fuel. The combination of vessel count, solid debris, and fuel volume captures several different removal tasks within one habitat-recovery effort. The figures come from NOAA’s Richardson Bay project report.
The Lower Pascagoula River project, active from September 2021 through August 2024, removed more than 127,000 pounds of marine debris. It removed eight derelict vessels and more than 6,500 pounds of smaller debris through volunteer cleanups. These results are reported by NOAA’s Lower Pascagoula River project page.
Taken together, these measurements show several scales of marine debris removal: millions of individually logged consumer items in international cleanups, state-level pound totals, specialized recovery of fishing gear and vessels, and multi-year work in protected habitats and waterways. Each statistic remains tied to its named project, geography, measurement date, and reporting unit.