Every year during Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup, hundreds of thousands of volunteers comb lakes, rivers and beaches around the world for trash. Over the course of nearly three decades, more than 9 million volunteers have collected nearly 164 million pounds of trash. But our ocean needs help more than once a year, and you can take a lead role on the front line of one of the world's most preventable problems by doing your own beach or waterway cleanup. Next time you're headed out to the beach or a nearby park, take along a trash bag and an Ocean Conservancy Data Form to collect and document the debris you find.