Global Cleanup Partners Share Earth Day 2026 Plans

When Preston Ross asks his Raleigh neighbors to grab a trash bag, he's offering something bigger than a cleanup. He's offering unhoused residents $18 an hour, a hot meal, and a chance to restore pride in their community.

The Great Raleigh Cleanup is one of six global partners working with EARTHDAY.ORG's Great Global Cleanup initiative ahead of Earth Day 2026 on April 22. This year's theme, "Our Power, Our Planet," celebrates how everyday people are creating real environmental change in their own backyards.

Ross puts it simply: "Cleanups are simple, grab a bag, start picking, but the impact is real." His Workforce Program proves it, bringing housed and unhoused residents together to clean parks and roadsides while building community connections that last beyond the cleanup day.

Thousands of miles south in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, The Clean Wave takes the fight underwater. President Andrés Bermudez leads volunteers who scuba dive to pull plastic from coral reefs, embodying the local "Pura Vida" philosophy through zero-waste action.

In Ghana's East Bono region, CEO Enock Mustapha is betting on youth. Through partnerships with Ghana Education Service, Global Alliance on Environment visits schools to teach conservation, then invites students to join community cleanups where they can apply what they've learned.

"One person can plant a tree, a community can restore a forest, and a united world can protect the planet," Mustapha explains. His approach turns environmental education into hands-on experience.

Meanwhile in Cape Town, South Africa, The Litterboom Project team wades directly into river currents to intercept trash before it reaches the ocean. Founder Casey Pratt and her crew identify pollution hotspots year-round, making beach cleanups easier for the volunteers who join their public events.

The Ripple Effect

Each organization brings different methods to the same mission. Some focus on employment, others on education, some on underwater ecosystems. But they share a common belief that environmental change starts with showing up, not waiting for perfect solutions.

The Great Global Cleanup connects these diverse efforts into a worldwide movement where a student in Ghana and a scuba diver in Costa Rica both contribute to the same goal. Their individual actions multiply when communities unite.

This Earth Day, these partners prove that protecting the planet doesn't require heroic gestures. It requires regular people grabbing trash bags, teaching kids, diving into rivers, and inviting their neighbors to join them in work that matters right outside their front doors.

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