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The Clean Wave started in action

At the core of The Clean Wave are our beach clean ups. That is where we started and that is at the core of where we generate our impacts.

Mapa de Costa Rica destacando Guanacaste Tamarindo

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In the beginning we felt the pull to take action.

The damage to our environment is so obvious and clear. That was our motivation and we started with a simple answer. We cleaned our beach.

The pull wasn’t just felt by us. It’s not hard to gain volunteers as they feel the shared need to act. As we came together as a community new opportunities emerged. New partnerships were created as well. 

We even had a huge second anniversary event with over 300 people participating. It was a beautiful moment for the community and the moment we committed to doing more.

Then, with Covid changing the dynamic of tourism and our ability to host events becoming more limited, we stayed in action, regrouped, planned, and relaunched for our fourth year. 

Today we are growing our community while staying focused on our core actions of beach clean ups and community building. We are working with our partners to develop community projects, and working on helping Tamarindo become a zero waste community. 

MAKE WAVES

Help us clean more beaches

Your donations help us gain supplies, pay our organizers and staff, and invest in our communities!

Our
Values

The Clean Wave is a value driven organization that puts our communities into action in a meaningful way. When faced with any opportunity, obstacle, in any circumstance we leverage our value system to make decisions and take action.

Environment

We are not separate of nature. We are part of nature and our environment is threatened. We value protecting our precious planet. We consider ourselves eco warriors.

Community

At the heart of The Clean Wave is the value we hold for community. It takes community action to have our impact. All our focus is on building, nurturing, and supporting our communities here and around the world.

Education

If we don't know better, we can't do better. We prioritize educating our youth through partnerships with schools. We focus on education at all of our events. We must learn and adopt new ways of being in the world.

Health

In the days of the pandemic it is more clear than ever that the world is not healthy. Our environment, community strength, and our access to resources is challenged globally. Returning our communities to health in mind, body, and spirit are fundamental to our aims.

Respect

All communities members are stakeholders. From the parking attendents and beach vendors, visitors and expats, business owners and their staff, and everyone that puts their foot down in Tamarindo is a stakeholder to us. And everyone deserves respect. We do not discriminate at The Clean Wave.

Zero Waste

One of our biggest aims is a zero waste community. This target goal represents our value system coming together in a powerful way to help prevent the problems we are dealing with today. We leverage all our values and come together with projects like our Community Compost Campaign we aim to do our part in harmony with municipalities, businesses, and other organizations.

Who
we are

As a community we embody a collective of all the souls in and around our environment. We are the community of people from here in Guanacaste to all over the world with a diversity of experiences, circumstances, and motivations who all can come together around  the simple idea that we all benefit from a clean healthy enviroment.

Tamarindo's slogan is "the place where the world meets".

  • Costa Ricans
  • Expats
  • Business Owners
  • Tourists
  • Nomads
  • Farmers
  • Vendors
  • Activists & Volunteers
VOLUNTEER
Experience a community in action
PARTNER
Be Part of the Community of Change Makers

Working Towards
a Shared Vision

WASTE

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Pura Vida is Zero Waste

In Costa Rica we have built into our cultural identity the concept of Pura Vida. This means pure life. To us Pure Life is zero waste. In nature there is no waste. Everything is rather a resource for another system. While Costa Rica is known worldwide for its clean energy, reforestation, among other natural resources and wonders there is still much to do.

We believe that zero waste is essential in creating a circular system to stop the damage being done to our environment. But, it doesn’t stop there. The Clean Wave also works towards repairing the damage to our environment and communities.

We host community building events that bring us together to take action as a community. We clean beaches and regenerate our land not as a solution, but as a necessary response to this global disaster. As a community we are building a value system of Pura Vida into our identity. We know the results will be to protect the natural environment, preserve our resources for future generations, and save our economics.

“Zero waste” is about community action driven by a value system in which we believe that nature doesn’t create waste, only humans do.

In a national park system​

Tamarindo is in a national park, Marino Las Baulas. We are aiming at taking our city like community and achieving harmony with our natural surroundings. We must do our part to not only protect our community, but also our neighboring communities, and their neighbors. 

Nationally

25.6%

Of land is
National Park

6%

Of the world's total biodiversity

Locally

205+

Species of Mammals

150

Species of Amphibian

210

Species of Reptile

850

Species of Birds

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Our place in the system, and why we take the actions we take.

We've identified the beach waste and response to it as an important node in the overall system.

The actions we take intervene, clean, educate to prevent, and then seek to solve waste streams by diverting and creating resources out of waste. 

We align with global and national focuses and partner with other organizations and are doing our part on the local community level. 

Our local action is demonstrated in our beach clean ups and focus on local community projects that contribute towards the zero waste aim.

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Think
Globally

SDG | ODS Alignments​

We believe in doing our part to making waves of change! We think globally, but act locally. 

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Pura Vida is Zero Waste

We aim to demonstrate community actions like our beach clean ups, and zero waste projects like community compost in Tamarindo. 

We will share our successes with our community, our partners, other communities in Costa Rica and the rest of the world.

We see ourselves as part of a global movement to protect our environments, build strong connected and resilient communities, and be the change we wish to see in the world. 

See the Reports & General Information​​

Through our beach clean up events and our participation in and development of zero waste community projects our actions have real tangible impact. 

Education & Community Building​

Leveraging our community events to build community and educate through experiential learning and educational partnerships we aim to help change consumption habits, business processes, and waste to resource development practices.

Climate Action

As we collect ocean and land waste in our community we aim to reduce the flow into our community with our NGO partners. We also work on and aligned with community projects to take waste streams and ensure they are being recycled, repurposed, and/or composted.


Healthy Communities

At the heart of The Clean Wave is our beach clean up events. These events are a demonstration of community in action. Through our events we connect a diverse community together. Taking action as a community helps build knowing and awareness. At our events we attend to our common environment, discuss important issues, and work towards community projects.

Local Resilience

A resilient community is connected and working together. We aim to build meaningful jobs that contribute to the overall community's economic and social well being.

Projects like community composting connect local businesses, residents, and tourists to our impact on waste management infrastructure. By preserving our natural beauty through innovative and economically intelligent ways we contribute to a more circular and local system.


Zero Waste & Waste Diversion

Pura vida is inherently zero waste. We see the direct damage done to our enviroment as we clean the waste from our ocean's, beaches and rivers. We see this not as a solution but as a necessary response. Our response doesn't stop with the clean ups. It includes working on building the infrastructure and habits of a zero waste community to help us divert, reuse, and regenerate waste to resource. Working with community partners and aligning ourselves with global focuses helps us adapt the best solutions from around the world.

Environmental Clean Up

The beaches are the location where our ecosystem's oceans, land, and rivers all meet. We see the direct result of the damage to our environment and delicate ecosystems.

Our clean up efforts aims to preserve the health of the marine and land wildlife and vegetation, while educating people through an experience of the impact directly.






Over 3 Billion people depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihood.

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Happy Planet Index Costa Rica is #1

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'At the Happy Planet Index, they measure what they believe matters: sustainable wellbeing for all. It tells us how well nations are doing at achieving long, happy, sustainable lives.'

We are always looking at different strategies, tactics, measurements, and ideas in the world. The Clean Wave sees itself as one member of a world wide community of change makers, eco warriors, and social activists. We learn from others, and participate as much as we can to contribute to a positive moment of healing our planet.

We feel that the Happy Planet Index aligns with Costa Rica’s values of Pura Vida, encouraging the health and wellbeing of people alongside the health and wellbeing of the environment. 

And, we believe it is our activated community that seeks to take this momentum and build on it. We see the room for improvement, and are taking action. 

Community in Action

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Community Events

It’s through meaningful and purposeful community action that we come together and truly build a interconnected and activated community.

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A Community
of Partners

Powered by the Volunteers
We are community-driven of volunteers who take action on beach clean-ups,
help us with community projects, commit to zero waste practices, and help us raise funds.
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Be part of the change

if you share the same dream, please help us to make this true