SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — With the summer season wrapped and the shores beginning to quiet, ECO-CLEAN Solutions is proud to share its biggest season yet. This year included 23 cleanups across 14 highly-impacted beaches around Lake Tahoe. At the heart of each cleanup is a simple mission: protect the lake we all love by removing what is often out of sight but top of mind—buried litter and microplastic pollution that traditional methods often miss.

What began as a grassroots effort in 2022 has grown into a movement powered by innovation, community partnerships, and the belief that Tahoe’s world-renowned beauty is worth fighting for. With each mile of shoreline cleaned and every buried piece of litter removed, ECO-CLEAN is helping ensure this place stays as breathtaking for future generations as it is today.

ECO-CLEAN Solutions began as a pilot project in 2022, sparked by its founders’ concern over the growing litter impacts on Tahoe’s beaches and the support of Keep Tahoe Blue. Volunteer cleanups were no longer enough to keep up with the amount of litter building up on the most popular shorelines. They knew there had to be a better solution, one that could support the efforts of local volunteers and tackle the pollution hiding just beneath the surface.

That’s when they discovered BEBOT, an all-electric beach-cleaning robot developed by The Searial Cleaners in eastern France. After meeting strict environmental standards set by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), BEBOT became the first technology of its kind deployed on the West Coast. Its emission-free, low-impact design can sift out the small, buried debris that often gets missed. If left behind, it breaks down into microplastics that threaten our drinking water and Tahoe’s world-famous clarity.

This year’s cleanups were guided by a collaborative research effort with Keep Tahoe Blue and the Desert Research Institute (DRI). By mapping beach zones and tracking the total litter collected all season, ECO-CLEAN, Keep Tahoe Blue and DRI are building a clearer understanding of how trash accumulates over time, and how it differs by season and location.

These insights will help inform future cleanup strategies and shoreline management decisions.

“There’s been so much effort to protect Lake Tahoe’s pristine waters, but that starts with clean beaches,” said JB Harris, CEO of ECO-CLEAN Solutions. “Every piece of trash removed from the sand is one less that ends up in the water.”

A full breakdown of this season’s cleanup data will be available later this fall in an interactive StoryMap that shows how much litter BEBOT removed at each beach. This kind of insight helps highlight where facilities could be improved, whether it’s more trash bins, cigarette canisters, or ambassadors on the ground to help educate visitors. It can also support future policy efforts, like expanding the single-use water bottle ban beyond South Lake Tahoe to other parts of the Basin and Truckee.

Community Organizations are Land Managers Are Stepping Up

Many land managers are working hand in hand with ECO-CLEAN and Keep Tahoe Blue to implement new strategies to reduce litter. Tahoe Beach Club was honored as the first private beach certified under the new Tahoe Blue Beach program. The certification highlights landowners and businesses that are taking action to make their beaches more sustainable. The club has eliminated single-use plastics on site, made environmental education part of the member experience, and welcomed BEBOT for three shoreline cleanings each season over the past three years.

“Everything at Tahoe Beach Club is built around respect for the natural beauty that surrounds us,” said Kevin Speer, Club Manager at Tahoe Beach Club. “Earning this Blue Beach certification just confirms what we already know, sustainability is part of our lifestyle. We’re incredibly thankful to the team at ECO-CLEAN Solutions for their partnership and support in helping us protect and care for this special place.”

Clean beaches aren’t just good for the lake, they’re good for business. Tahoe’s reputation is built on its natural beauty, and that starts at the shoreline. When beaches are clean and well cared for, visitors have a better experience, local businesses thrive, and property values stay strong. Protecting our beaches is not just about the environment. It is also an investment in Tahoe’s economic future.

“It’s great to see more businesses, land managers, locals, and visitors stepping up to be part of the solution,” said Katy Jo Caringer, Marketing Director at ECO-CLEAN Solutions. “Since 2023, we’ve seen a 25 percent drop in litter collected during the annual July 5th cleanup. But there’s still more work to do, and we’d love to see even more of the community get involved to keep this progress going.”

Building a Sustainable Future for Beach Cleaning

Funding beach cleanups and the BEBOT has been a collaborative effort among non-profit organizations, private individuals, local governments, and TBID funds from the North Tahoe Community Alliance. As the need for this work grows, so does the challenge of funding it. Each year, it’s becoming harder to secure support with the limited amount of funding to cover the many priorities and challenges impacting the basin. ECO-CLEAN would like to expand the BEBOT to more beaches next year, including Nevada Beach, Pope Beach, Baldwin Beach, and Kiva Beach and will be working with many partners to find a public/private funding model that can support the work.

ECO-CLEAN Solutions is committed to a future where clean, lake-friendly recreation is the easy and obvious choice. But they know they can’t do it alone. Keeping this momentum going will take more local businesses, more community members, and more funding partners stepping in to help make clean beaches a long-term reality.

“At the end of the day, we want to continue to give back to this place that’s given us so much. We want to continue building this community that truly cares about the long-term sustainability and beauty of Lake Tahoe as much as we do,” said JT Chevallier, Co-Founder of ECO-CLEAN Solutions.

ECO-CLEAN Solutions extends heartfelt thanks to the volunteers, partners, funders, and lan
managers who made this season possible.

To learn more about BEBOT, upcoming cleanups, or the Tahoe Blue Beach program, visit eco-cleansolutions.com. You can sign up for the monthly newsletter, explore ways to get involved, or support future efforts to keep Tahoe’s beaches clean, one shoreline at a time