This nonprofit has been turning beach clean-ups into parties for 15 years

Eight friends sat in their Kaimukī living room, brainstorming ways to fight plastic pollution across the islands. But they wanted to go beyond the average beach clean-up; they knew that in order to get people to care about the issue and to keep them coming back to help, the clean-ups needed to be fun, engaging, and worthwhile.
“We were like, let’s start a nonprofit group that cleans beaches and makes beach cleanups fun,” said Kahi Pacarro, one of the founders and original crew members. “We felt like we could host a party.”
That idea created Sustainable Coastlines Hawaiʻi 15 years ago.
Fast forward to today, and the nonprofit has collected over 750,000 pounds of trash across the islands’ coastlines and has brought in more than 50,000 volunteers.