H2O Trash Patrol is a registered 501c3 non-profit organization (Tax ID #80-0868817) currently funded by grants, donations and fee for service proceeds.
Based in Encinitas, California, H2O Trash Patrol specializes in cleaning up marine debris in and around the water and rocks via standup paddleboards. We are a dedicated group of conscientious individuals who care about our lagoons, harbors, marinas, waterways, and beaches. H2O Trash Patrol is passionate about making a difference by physically getting out there in the waterways and on the beaches to pull out as much trash as possible and bringing awareness of the growing plastic and debris in our world’s oceans.
Awards
- 2011 Environmental Hero Award - Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation
- 2014 Green Oceanside Leadership Award - City of Oceanside
- 2014 Coastal Champion Award for Marine Conservation - San Diego Coastkeeper
- 2014 Coastal Champion Award for Marine Conservation - County of San Diego
- 2014 Coastal Champion Award for Marine Conservation - California State Assembly
How It All Began
It all began with a simple lesson to our three kids and a day at the beach. We do our best to instill the moral to always leave a place better than the way we found it. Each time at the beach we would have them pick up 10 pieces of trash each before we headed home. And each time they would make it a competition to see how many pieces they could get. It was the day when our daughter said she had picked up 100 pieces of trash in about 15 minutes that we realized how truly awful the condition was of our beaches. We started paying attention to how few people were even cleaning up after themselves, let alone going out of their way to clean up after someone else. Our children deserve to play on safe sand, as do we all. And yet the amount of trash in any one day that sits as time bombs in the sand is atrocious.
We started to make a routine of it, spending at least an hour each week gathering as much trash as we could from our local beaches. We even looked into joining the beach clean up days that a lot of non-profit organizations do once a month. But decided that one time each month was only a band-aid solution. The final motivator to start H2O Trash Patrol came the day we took stand up paddleboards into Aqua Hedionda and saw a gross amount of garbage floating in the water. It was then that we realized that a huge effort needed to be given to pull the trash out that is already in the water.
Cleaning the water and the beaches has become a family passion. We are committed to making a huge difference by taking action and maximizing our time and the time of our crew to be on the beaches and in the water cleaning up as much as possible. What we take out we sort and recycle what we can. Only your generous donations and sponsorships can cause the change we make to be substantial. With your help, we are able to spend the maximum amount of time taking the pollution out of the water and off the beaches. Your contributions provide the resources the environment needs to heal and allows us to bring safety back to our beaches.