Megan Juran still remembers the moment she realized beach cleanup wasn’t just a hobby, for her it was a mission.
“I saw firsthand how much marine debris was coming in, onto the wilderness beaches,” Juran said, recalling her time as a ranger at Olympic National Park.
She’s now the coordinator for Washington CoastSavers, where she organizes the state’s largest annual beach cleanups, with the most recent one held on April 19, Earth Day weekend. In 2025, 584 volunteers removed over 13,000 pounds of marine debris from sites along Washington’s Pacific coast.
While the energy behind these volunteer efforts is growing, Juran worries that the infrastructure behind them is not.
“Our current grant is through the NOAA Sea Grant… and our last grant was with the NOAA Marine Debris Program,” Juran said. “We don’t have a lot of capacity here."
Sea Grant is a federal–university partnership program that funds local research, community outreach, and marine conservation. The University of Washington serves as the program’s local partner, and awarded $299,965 to Washington CoastSavers in 2023.
The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary office is also facing layoffs and a lease termination – any further cuts are going to be impactful, especially in education and outreach, Juran explained.
The Trump administration aims to cut funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by approximately 25%, from $6.1 billion to $4.5 billion. These cuts included the proposed elimination of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which plays a crucial role in climate, weather, and ocean studies.
Juran's concern is shared by many, as the federal infrastructure supporting coastal protection has remained strained for years. Without the necessary support, local volunteers often find themselves carrying the heavy burden of cleanup and advocacy, she said.
Despite the overwhelming need, Juran sees her work as a vital part of preserving the beauty and health of Washington’s coast.
“We take care of what we love. It has just become a passion of mine,” Juran said.
Further down the coast, on the Long Beach Peninsula, Wendy Murray sees the same debris that Juran's team confronts in Olympic. Only here, it flows downstream from the Columbia River.
“We’re in a very interesting place,” said Murray, vice president of the Grassroots Garbage Gang. “We are at the mouth of the Columbia River, which flows through Portland, so we get some interesting garbage.”
From typical single-use plastics to used tampon applicators, discarded couches, packaging with foreign languages, and even thousands of bike helmets from fallen shipping containers, Murray said she’s seen it all.
Murray has been organizing volunteer cleanups for more than two decades, and her motivation hasn’t changed.
“I love the beach. That’s probably the bottom line,” Murray said. “It’s hard to go on the beach and not pick up. I can’t imagine not being involved, even if it’s just me with a garbage bag.”
While a lot of marine debris is driven by ocean currents and storms, Murray emphasizes that much of it is homegrown.
“Living out here, you see the impacts of everybody’s lifestyle, especially plastic,” Murray said.
Murray’s grassroots effort to combat this problem often feels like drops in a vast ocean. She said the debris that accumulates along the beach is a stark reminder of a wasteful society that rarely takes responsibility for its environmental footprint.
“Every day I’m out there, I find something new,” she said. “But at the same time, I’m glad that I’m part of something that tries to do something about it.”
A systemic problem
Liz Schotman, the Washington regional manager for the Surfrider Foundation, wants people to understand that what ends up on beaches is part of a much bigger system failure.
“I think, you know, the way that marine debris and pollution is often framed is that it's a beach problem and it's not a beach problem,” Schotman said. “It's a watershed-wide problem. It's a systemic problem.”
For Schotman, the issue is far more complex than simply cleaning up after the mess; it’s about addressing the systems and behaviors that create it. She sees a dire need for policy reform, particularly around waste management and consumer products.
“The things we use every day, the packaging we throw away. It all ends up somewhere,” Schotman said.
Her work with Surfrider is focused on advocating for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation in Washington, which would require companies to take responsibility for the waste their products create. This would force manufacturers to design packaging that is recyclable, reusable, or compostable, a critical step toward reducing marine debris before it ever reaches the water.
“Packaging is one of the top pieces of trash we see,” Schotman said. “A lot of it is plastic and single-use. We need legislation that creates a system where producers are mandated to make packaging that is truly recyclable, reusable, or compostable.”
One of the bills Surfrider has supported is SB 5284 or the Recycling Reform Act by Sen. Liz Lovelette, Anacortes-D. The bill sets a standard across the state encouraging producers to use sustainable packaging instead of single-use plastics that aims to increase the recycling rate from 40% to 66% by 2035.
As of April 25, the bill has been delivered to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk and is scheduled to be signed on May 17.
Schotman’s advocacy for EPR has been met with both support and resistance. While environmental groups see it as a necessary step in reducing plastic waste, waste management and recycling industry representatives often argue that the burden should not fall solely on producers. However, Schotman believes that without this type of regulation, the problem will continue to worsen, and volunteers like those on the Washington coast will only see the issue escalate.
Without consistent federal coordination, especially from agencies like NOAA, local groups are left to fill in the gaps.
“If we don’t have those folks and that infrastructure,” Schotman said, “then that’s when groups like ours – nonprofits, volunteer-based groups - start to take on the burden. And that’s where it becomes really difficult.”
These gaps in infrastructure aren’t just logistical; they represent an imbalance in environmental governance. The absence of a broader, coordinated approach to waste management, pollution prevention, and ecosystem health leaves local communities to shoulder responsibility, Schotman explained.
Holding the line
Despite the mounting challenges, the volunteers continue to show up, Juran said. All three women speak with urgency, but not despair. They’re driven by a deep respect for Washington’s coastline and a belief in the power of local action, even in the face of overwhelming odds.
For Murray, the constant presence of volunteers is a reminder that there’s still hope for the future.
“I’m optimistic,” Murray said. “Even though the problem is huge, we’re making progress. Little by little.”
Schotman, too, finds inspiration in the grassroots action that has been the foundation of coastal protection efforts for decades.
“People often think these issues are too big to solve,” Schotman said. “But I’ve seen so much change over the years. If we keep fighting, we’ll keep making a difference.”
This story was written for the University of Washington’s News Lab.
