Green travel guide

Beach Cleanups and River Restoration in Costa Rica: How to Join In

The easiest way to join a beach cleanup in Costa Rica is through a local group that runs them regularly, such as The Clean Wave in Tamarindo, or through the community committee behind a Blue Flag beach. In San José, Amigos del Río Torres holds open river workdays. The best events have a set meeting point, safety rules, and a plan for where the waste goes afterward.

By Pura-Verde.com Editors · Published October 30, 2026 · Last checked October 30, 2026

Best for

Travelers and residents who want a few hours of hands-on work with a local group.

Where

Tamarindo (The Clean Wave), San José's Río Torres (Amigos del Río Torres), and Blue Flag beaches along both coasts.

Good to know

The Clean Wave posts a monthly Tamarindo beach cleanup schedule through 2027 and asks volunteers to RSVP.

Blue Flag

In March 2026, Costa Rica's tourism board awarded the Bandera Azul Ecológica to 143 beaches for their 2025 performance.

Red flag

Events with no organizer, no safety briefing, or no plan for sorting and hauling away what's collected.

Ask before you go

Where to meet, what to bring, what not to pick up, and where the bags end up.

The bag count is the least interesting part of a beach cleanup. What matters is where the waste goes afterward, who stops the next load from washing up, and whether the neighbors keep showing up next month.

Costa Rica has hundreds of kilometers of beach and thousands of rivers, and nearly all of the trash on the sand started somewhere inland. That's why the best cleanup groups here don't stop at the tide line. They sort and weigh what they find, push for better waste collection, work with schools, and take on the rivers that carry plastic to the coast. This guide introduces some of the people doing that work, shows how to join them, and explains how to tell a useful cleanup from a photo op.

The Clean Wave: a Tamarindo movement that started on its own beach

The Clean Wave is a foundation based in Tamarindo, Guanacaste. Its history page says it began with residents cleaning their own beach and grew from there: its second anniversary drew more than 300 people, it regrouped after COVID cut tourism, and it now aims to make Tamarindo a zero-waste community.

Co-founder Andrés Bermúdez moved to Tamarindo from Tres Ríos, Cartago. In a 2018 La Nación profile, he said the most common finds were straws, cigarette butts and plastic, and that volunteers sifted sand with mesh to catch microplastics. He also pointed to the bigger gap: "Aquí en Tamarindo casi no hay opciones para reciclar," or "here in Tamarindo there are almost no options for recycling." In a 2026 Repretel report, he was again described as one of the founders of a group working since 2017, now with divers pulling waste off the seafloor as well as the sand.

Today the group lists free, public monthly beach cleanups in Tamarindo, with a schedule posted through 2027 and an RSVP form on its volunteer page. It also runs a community compost project, a diving membership, and a "No Ash No Trash" petition against smoking on the beach. That mix is the point: cleanups bring people together, and the other projects go after the sources.

The Río Torres: a city river people are learning to see again

The Río Torres runs through San José and its eastern suburbs, and for years most residents simply turned their backs on it. Amigos del Río Torres formed in 2013 when a mixed group of neighbors decided to change that. The association works along more than 20 km of riverbank with community cleanups, tree planting, urban gardens, environmental workshops and murals, and its workdays are open to all ages.

Big shared days show what's possible. In April 2024, more than 500 people cleaned three points along the river in an event run with Rotaract San Pedro-Curridabat, The Clean Wave and other groups, Delfino reported. Earlier, in February 2020, more than 100 volunteers pulled about 1,800 kg of bottles, bags, clothing and tires from a newly opened stretch in Barrio Tournón, in a cleanup organized with Rutas Naturbanas and Río Urbano, El Mundo reported.

A lighter riverbank isn't the same as cleaner water. Urban rivers suffer from sewage, stormwater and construction runoff, and those need public investment and enforcement, not just volunteers. The lasting value of groups like this is that they turn a forgotten river into a neighborhood cause, which is what gets pipes fixed.

Rutas Naturbanas: turning river corridors into green routes

Rutas Naturbanas works on the same rivers from a different angle. The foundation plans to turn neglected river corridors, mainly the Torres and María Aguilar, into green routes for walking, cycling and rolling, connecting more than 43 km of green space across six municipalities. That 43 km is a plan; the site doesn't say how much is open yet.

Its team page lists Federico Cartín Arteaga as founder and general director, Dana Víquez Azofeifa as co-proponent and vice president, and José Vargas Hidalgo as co-proponent and urban design director. They're designers and planners, not cleanup crews, and that's useful to see: a river is easier to protect once people walk beside it every day. For more on city green space, see the greener cities guide.

Blue Flag beaches: the committees behind the sign

If you've seen a blue flag on a Costa Rican beach, that's the Bandera Azul Ecológica. The beach category started in 1996, and the program marked 30 years in 2026. In March 2026, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) awarded it to 143 beaches for their 2025 performance, News in America reported, with 13 earning the top five-star level.

Each flag depends on a local committee of residents, businesses and public agencies. The ICT looks at water quality, rip current signs, lifeguard coverage in high season, waste separation and environmental education, and extra stars reward things like managing land-based pollution and coastal safety training. In practice, those committees often organize the regular cleanups in their towns. If you're staying near a Blue Flag beach, ask your hotel or the local development association who runs the committee and when it meets.

The flag isn't only for beaches. According to the ICT's program page, the Bandera Azul Ecológica has ten categories, run jointly by agencies including the ICT, the environment and health ministries and the water utility AyA. They include communities, schools, sustainable homes and hydrological microbasins, the small watersheds that feed rivers. Every category starts the same way, with a local Comité Pro-BAE that signs up, sets goals and gets checked each year. For residents, joining or starting a committee is one of the most direct ways to turn occasional cleanups into a yearly plan for a beach, a school or a stretch of river.

What a good cleanup looks like

Anyone can fill a bag. A well-run event does more:

• A clear organizer and meeting point. You should know who's in charge and where to gather.
• A safety briefing. Sharp glass, needles, chemical containers and tangled fishing line shouldn't be handled by untrained volunteers. Gloves and buckets for sharps are a good sign.
• A plan for the waste. Ask whether materials are sorted, which recycler takes them and who hauls the rest. A pile of bags left at the beach entrance isn't a finished job.
• Data. Groups that weigh and count what they find can show which products and sources keep turning up, and use that to push for change upstream.
• Respect for habitat. Driftwood, seaweed and fallen branches aren't trash; they shelter wildlife and help hold sand in place.

Underwater cleanups need certified divers and careful supervision, because pulling debris off reef or rock can do more damage than leaving it. The marine conservation guide explains how to work around reefs. Riverbank work can be dangerous when water is high, so follow the organizer's lead on where to stand.

Turtle beaches need extra care

On nesting beaches, a cleanup has to fit around the turtles. Walking on marked nests, using bright lights at night or moving sand and logs can harm eggs and hatchlings. Good organizers coordinate with park staff or local turtle projects and keep daytime cleanups away from roped-off areas. Night patrols are a separate job for trained guides. Beachfront lighting is a growing threat too, as marine biologist Daniel Arauz has warned about artificial lights near nesting beaches. The sea turtle conservation guide covers how to visit nesting beaches responsibly.

How to find a cleanup near you

• Tamarindo: check The Clean Wave's schedule and RSVP before you go.
• San José: contact Amigos del Río Torres through its site for upcoming workdays.
• Any Blue Flag beach: ask locally who runs the beach committee.
• Hotels, schools and companies: offer to fund gloves, transport or a staff day for an existing group rather than staging your own event; established organizers usually know what they're short of.
• Longer stays: if you want to volunteer for weeks rather than hours, read the ethical volunteering guide first.

Always confirm the date close to the day. Weather, tides and permits can move events, and a group's social media is often more current than its website. On the Pura-Verde map, we pin a group's public office or announced meeting point, never fragile dunes, riverbanks or nesting areas.

Stopping waste before it reaches the water

Beach and river cleanups treat symptoms. The cure is less waste in the first place and better systems to handle what's left. That means refillable bottles, shops that cut packaging, working municipal collection and recycling centers that create local jobs, like the family recycling business Daniela Campos grew in La Unión, Cartago. Our guides to recycling and composting and zero-waste refill shops pick up from there.

Rivers also need protection from bigger threats than litter. In 2026, Costa Rica's courts ordered joint action on sand extraction in the Tempisque River, and SINAC investigated a dock built in the protected Río Tárcoles corridor. Volunteers can't fix those, but informed neighbors are often the ones who report them.

The best sign of success is a cleanup that collects less each year: fewer cigarette butts, fewer bottles, a river people swim beside again. That takes years of steady, local work, and it's the kind of green story worth following.

Frequently asked questions

How can I join a beach cleanup in Costa Rica?

Look for a local group that runs regular events, such as The Clean Wave in Tamarindo, which posts a monthly schedule and asks volunteers to RSVP. At other beaches, ask your hotel or the local development association who organizes the Blue Flag committee's cleanups.

Are beach cleanups in Costa Rica free to join?

Community cleanups like The Clean Wave's Tamarindo events are free and open to the public. Be wary of paid "cleanup tours" that don't explain who organizes them or where the waste goes.

What should I bring to a beach cleanup?

Bring water, sun protection, closed shoes and a reusable bag or bucket if the organizer asks. Many groups provide gloves. Don't pick up needles, broken glass or chemical containers unless you're trained and equipped.

What is the Bandera Azul Ecológica?

It's Costa Rica's Blue Flag eco-award. The beach category, run by the tourism institute ICT since 1996, rates beaches on water quality, safety, waste management and education. In March 2026, 143 beaches received it for their 2025 performance.

Can I help clean rivers in San José?

Yes. Amigos del Río Torres holds open community workdays along the Río Torres, including cleanups and tree planting. Contact the group through its website for upcoming dates.

Is it OK to clean up a turtle nesting beach?

Only with an organized group that coordinates with park staff or a turtle project. Stay away from marked nests, avoid lights at night, and don't move logs or sand.

Sources

1. The Clean Wave: official site
2. The Clean Wave: Acerca de
3. La Nación: Joven cartaginés impulsa en Tamarindo plan para reciclar (June 5, 2018)
4. Repretel: No solo limpian playas, buzos se sumergen para retirar desechos del fondo del mar (2026)
5. Amigos del Río Torres: Quiénes somos
6. Delfino.cr: Jóvenes voluntarios de Rotaract realizan acciones de limpieza (May 2024)
7. El Mundo CR: Más de 100 personas limpian río Torres (February 25, 2020)
8. Rutas Naturbanas: official site
9. Rutas Naturbanas: Equipo
10. News in America: Bandera Azul Ecológica celebra 30 años galardonando a 143 playas (March 20, 2026)
11. ICT: Bandera Azul Ecológica program page

We checked these pages when we last updated this guide. We didn't interview the people named; their roles and words come from the sources above.