Keep Tahoe Blue’s July 5th “Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue” Cleanup found 26 percent less litter at sites around Lake Tahoe compared to 2024. The event marked 12 years of the region’s largest volunteer cleanup, which saw 653 volunteers participate, according to a press release.
Since 2013, Keep Tahoe has conducted cleanup events like this one, where volunteers collect not just litter, but also data on what types of trash they find, where and how much. By analyzing the data, Keep Tahoe Blue identifies trends and then pushes for solutions that stop litter at the source.
Past successes include bans on single-use plastic water bottles and Styrofoam, the deployment of beach-cleaning robots, and a beach management initiative called the Tahoe Blue Beach program, which is designed to create an environment where responsible, Lake-friendly recreation is the easy and obvious choice for everyone who comes to the shoreline.
Kings Beach State Recreation Area joined the Tahoe Blue Beach program this year with funding from the North Tahoe Community Alliance’s TOT-TBID Dollars At Work program, which reinvests funds generated in North Lake Tahoe to support community vitality, environmental stewardship and economic health.
The Tahoe Blue Beach program launched in 2024 at Zephyr Cove Resort through a partnership with the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit and Aramark Destinations. As a result, volunteers collected 97 percent less litter during the 2024 “Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue” Cleanup event than the previous year. This year, the total litter collected at Zephyr Cove Resort dropped again, totaling less than 100 pounds. Tahoe Beach Club, Meeks Bay Resort, and Camp Richardson Resort are part of the Tahoe Blue Beach program as well.
