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Beach Cleanup Tools for End-of-Season Litter Pickup
Key Takeaways
- In 2025, Surfrider Foundation volunteers removed nearly 340,000 pounds of trash across 1,058 U.S. cleanups, a third of it plastic fragments.
- Unger’s NiftyNabber is trusted in the field by real crews, including Ryan Hickman’s ongoing beach cleanup work in California.
Summer Crowds Are Gone, But the Litter Isn’t
Labor Day empties the boardwalk, but it doesn’t empty the sand. Whatever summer visitors leave behind gets buried and weathered before your crew ever gets to it, and the volume adds up fast. For beachfront properties, the end-of-summer beach cleanup is often heavier and slower than anything crews handled in July.
In 2024, Surfrider Foundation volunteers removed a record-breaking 365,000 pounds of trash from U.S. beaches across more than 1,200 cleanups, and 83 percent of everything collected was single-use plastic, according to the Surfrider Foundation 2024 Beach Cleanup Annual Report. In 2025, more than 34,000 volunteers logged nearly 340,000 pounds of trash across 1,058 U.S. beach and waterway cleanups, collecting over 800,000 individual items, per the Surfrider Foundation 2025 Beach Cleanup Annual Report.
We can all do our part when enjoying the beaches this Summer to take out what we bring in. But trash at the beach is inevitable; how can we do our part to clean up?
See It in Action: Real Cleanup, Real Results
Many beaches employ tractors with specialized sifters to pick up trash left within a few inches below the sand surface. But they can’t get everything, and they can’t cover every square inch of every beach.
Ryan Hickman has spent years running weekly beach cleanups near his home in California, and Unger’s NiftyNabber has been part of his routine the whole time. This clip shows the tool at work in the field: reach, grip, and the pace a crew can keep when the equipment isn’t the bottleneck.
Close Out Summer the Right Way
If you’re visiting the beach this month, please take out what you bring in. And if you see some extra trash, do your part to keep them clean so you and your community can enjoy them next 
FAQs: Beach Cleanup Tools
What makes end-of-season beach litter harder to collect than summer litter?
Late-season debris has broken down further, so it’s smaller, more scattered, and often wedged into dune grass or jetties. Crews also have fewer volunteer hands and less daylight after Labor Day, so the tools they carry have to do more of the work.
How much trash do beach cleanups typically remove?
Surfrider Foundation volunteers removed a record 365,000 pounds of trash in 2024 and nearly 340,000 pounds in 2025, with plastic fragments and single-use plastics making up most of what was collected both years.
Can volunteer groups use the same tools as professional grounds crews?
Yes. Volunteer event coordinators and community groups get the same grip and durability benefits as paid crews, which matters most for large or recurring cleanup events.