Millions of pounds of trash is collected every year on beaches along America’s 12,383 miles of coastline. Florida is one of the largest generators, particularly of plastic waste, according to a 2023 Florida International University study. Making its way to the ocean, an estimated 35 billion pounds enters the marine environment every year. It’s extremely harmful to sea animals, often mistaking it for food which can block their digestive systems. Getting tangled up in it can lead to injury or death. Plus, the breakdown of plastic into microplastics also enters the food chain, impacting all marine life, while contributing to a continuous buildup of pollution in the ocean.
While the amount of litter on Florida’s beaches is distressing, there are some people who are making a difference by cleaning up what’s there and preventing plastic and other trash from entering in the first place.
Caulin Donaldson is one of them.
An Influencer Making a Positive Impact on the World
Social media has revolutionized how we connect and communicate with others while opening up new pathways for people to give back and make a positive impact on the world. Known as “Trash Caulin,” the environmental activist’s dedication to the cause has led to a TikTok following that has surpassed 2.2 million.
Donaldson’s impressive following is all based on a single premise: making the world a better place by picking up trash and inspiring many others to take action, proving the effects just one person can have in making an important change. When speaking at the Youth Service Leadership Summit in 2023, he explained that he’d “identified a problem everyone was complaining about, however, no one was doing anything about it.”
At first, the St. Pete, Florida resident simply posted a video on Instagram of himself picking up trash. His friends told him to keep it going. It turned into YouTube videos, and then, in December 2019, he posted a video on TikTok of himself picking up litter in a Walmart parking lot amassing more than 30,000 likes. That’s when he says, it “kind of took off.”
A bit of an understatement.
The ‘500 Day Series’ & Beyond
Donaldson’s “500-day” series began with a challenge to himself to see how many days in a row he could pick up trash. He started out with 100, moved the goalpost to 365, then 500. Every day he’d come up with new ways to who how much plastic was on the beach, sometimes making jokes about it to make it lighthearted while also motivational.
By the end of 2020, he’d signed on with a company based in the U.K. that connects sustainable brands with influencers, and in March 2021 he got his first deal. Now, he works full-time as an influencer bettering the world.
The daily trash videos have continued, but he’s also taken on other projects.
After finding a lot of loose plastic beach toys on the sands, the 28-year-old asked his followers to help come up with a solution. The brainstorming effort through comments led to the creation of a “take a toy, leave a toy” box in 2022. Building one right on the beach in Redington Shores, he took a video that garnered 4.5 million views. When the city removed the box he started a petition to increase awareness and reached out to commissioners who were receptive. Now, whenever he puts out a box, it’s quickly filled with toys.
Official Spokesperson for National CleanUp Day
In 2024, Donaldson was named the Official Spokesperson for National CleanUp Day, the country’s largest single-day cleanup event.
“Being chosen holds significant meaning as someone who lives and breathes getting the word out about the importance of taking care of our country, and our world…I hate when people say one person can’t make a change. It takes a whole group, but it takes one person to start,” he noted.
How Everyone Can Make a Difference
Donaldson is leading by example and hopes that everyone will become responsible beachgoers by doing their part to protect the planet, wildlife, and fellow humans. That means helping keep our beaches beautiful by picking up litter, even if it isn’t yours. You can also take part in beach cleanups with many different organizations hosting them, from Pinellas County’s Baskets for Beaches program to the Nothin’ But Sand Beach Cleanups in Los Angeles.
There are many other ways to make a difference too. The most effective way to reduce waste, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is to not create it in the first place, such as avoiding single-use plastics. In the U.S. alone, people go through an astounding amount of plastic straws, enough to circle the globe 2.5 times in a single day.
