Over 900 registered volunteers flocked to Collier County’s beaches, canals, and lakes to protect the community’s environment by picking up litter and debris for the 2025 Great American Cleanup.
This event saw a 76% increase in volunteers, from 514 to 908 registrations, compared to last year. We typically only get this much traffic during our September cleanup, so this is a huge milestone! We were also able to cover a few locations that are of concern, such as the Canals off 951 (Collier Blvd) and Ashley Apartments in Immokalee, which were identified through the 2025 Community Litter Index. Through this jump in volunteers, the amount of trash bags filled and waste collected also increased by 82%, thus resulting in a more significant impact on our community.
The event logged over 2,700 volunteer service hours to help clean Collier County’s beaches and waterways. Volunteers collected more than 300 trash bags of litter and debris from 12 public locations, including Barefoot Beach, Clam Pass, Vanderbilt Beach, etc., and 5 private sites such as Pelican Bay, Immokalee Rd Canal, and more. In addition to plastic and glass bottles, cigarette buts, and expected debris, volunteers found unusual items such as dolls and toys, pillows, roofing tar, construction supplies, and a few dead animals. On average, 2.66 pounds of waste were collected per volunteer.
Among the volunteers who took their valuable time and effort to keep the environment healthy were college, high school, and elementary students from various institutions and clubs. Several Scout Troops, corporate employees, and civic organizations also participated in this event. Collier County residents of all ages and from different walks of life joined to lend their hands for this event, showing the community’s love and care for their homeland.
Keep Collier Beautiful would also like to express its gratitude to all the site captains for helping organize and distribute supplies to the volunteers and to all the sponsors and community partners who supported this cleanup event: FDOT, Collier County Solid & Hazardous Management, Florida Surfn Evolution, City of Naples, Keep America Beautiful, WM, Waste Pro, Walmart, Cascade Cart Solutions, Wastequip, EK Consulting, Collier Community Foundation, Keep Florida Beautiful, The SWFL 100, and C2 Communications.
