For more than 35 years, the International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) spearheaded by Ocean Conservancy has galvanized communities worldwide to care for their waterways by removing marine debris. Clean Your Streams began as an ICC event, and Ocean Conservancy is also the force behind the TIDES marine debris database and creating the Clean Swell app. Learn more about our connections to Ocean Conservancy.  

International Coastal Cleanup

The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) began with a small group of volunteers on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Today, individuals from more than 150 countries participate in the ICC, and in 2020, more than 5 million pounds of trash were removed from waterways and beaches. Clean Your Streams began in 1997 under the umbrella of Coastweeks in Ohio, through the Lake Erie Commission and has always been part of the ICC.

To this day, the Ocean Conservancy is the organization that creates and sends us data cards to collect information on the trash volunteers remove during Clean Your Streams Day and other marine debris removal programs. By being part of the ICC, Clean Your Streams has contributed to a worldwide data set used to set policy, change packaging, manufacturing, and transportation laws and policies, and to raise awareness of the impacts of marine debris.

TIDES Database

The TIDES Database (Trash Information and Data for Education and Solutions) is a public data system maintained by the Ocean Conservancy containing the world’s largest ocean trash dataset, all collected by volunteers. You can view clean-ups by navigating the map here. Zoom in to our region of Northwest Ohio and you’ll see lots of clean-ups pop-up, either from PCS staff compiling and submitting paper data cards, or by individuals using the Clean Swell App.

Clean Swell App

Thanks to the ubiquity of smart phones, Clean Swell App was a natural outgrowth of the TIDES database. Clean Swell is a phone app version of a citizen science data card that allows you to contribute information on a clean-up directly to TIDES. We’re proud that Partners for Clean Streams has been designated as a local clean-up leader and that our logo is featured on the app for anyone who opens it within our region. If you’re curious to learn more about Clean Swell or considering using it for a clean-up of your own, we detailed Clean Swell guide and FAQ available here.