The Oceans and Waterways Cleanup campaign aims to reduce plastic pollution by educating people about plastic’s harmful effects on human health, marine life, and climate change and mobilizing volunteers to clean their local shorelines.

The campaign is in honor of the UN’s declaration of the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. WeLoveU aims to restore ecosystems affected by plastic pollution by cleaning the total distance of the East Coast shoreline, which is nearly 2,200 miles long.

The Oceans and Waterways Cleanup campaign works under the Clean WORLD Movement and fulfills Sustainable Development Goals 13 and 14 — Climate Action and Life Below Water. Plastic pollution has rapidly become a global crisis, severely affecting the marine environment. At least 8 million tons of plastic enter the ocean annually — threatening human health, food safety and contributing to climate change.