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.
Rafael Bergstrom, SCH’s executive director, took over when Pacarro stepped back in 2019. Bergstrom said much of his leadership is modeled after Pacarro’s work, noting that the most important part is fostering community and making each clean-up as engaging as possible.
“That doom and gloom messaging isn’t going to solve it,” Bergstrom said. “We're really here to get stuff done on the ground, inspire people, and have them walk away feeling like they were part of something really cool that they can then now take into their personal lives.”
Almost 100 volunteers braved the weekend’s stormy weather to celebrate SCH’s birthday, which was held at Makapuʻu Beach — the same place as the first official clean-up.
The celebration cleaned up nearly 300 pounds of trash along the coastline and, in partnership with the Global Preservation Initiative, planted more than 35 native plants in the area.
Bergstrom said one of his proudest moments with the organization was the 2023 Earth Day clean-up in Waimānalo, which brought in over 2,000 volunteers.
“There’s a lot of people that say when you’re running a nonprofit, you can’t have an audience of everyone, and our thought is, we have to have an audience of everyone in order to solve this,” Bergstrom said. “We’re all a part of the problem; we all have to be part of the solution.”
Pacarro echoed the sentiment, adding that the growth over the past decade and a half has proved that giving back to the ʻāina does not have to be kept just as a hobby or a weekend activity.
“Being able to prove that you can have a successful career in giving back to the community is rare,” Pacarro said. “So being able to create an organization that treats our staff well, pays them, has good benefits, and keeps people happy? That all transcends into the work they do, and it's already showing in our ability to change the narrative around plastic pollution in our islands.”
SCH has many events planned to celebrate its 15th birthday throughout the year, including another Earth Day event in April. More information can be found on the SCH website.
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