Founder Sophie Ringel recalls the spark vividly. Walking along the beach with her husband, she was stunned by the sheer amount of trash. For days she picked it up alone, frustration mounting, until one afternoon she spotted another woman doing the same thing. “I was so excited that someone else shared my idea that I ran over to talk to her,” Ringel says. “Everything she said about the litter and plastic resonated with me completely. Right there, we decided to team up. Since we were both working full-time, we chose Tuesday at 5:00pm for our cleanup.” That date, March 26, 2019, became the very first official Clean Miami Beach cleanup.
A Cultural Shock Turned Mission
Ringel grew up in Germany, where reusables were a cultural norm. She was never handed a plastic fork in school, never given a disposable cup at a café, never saw plastic bags at the grocery store. Everything was reusable, and it felt normal.
Moving to the United States was a shock. “Here, it often feels like people believe they can’t live without single-use plastics when I know firsthand that we absolutely can,” she explains. That perspective continues to fuel her work because she’s not simply imagining the plastic-free lifestyle, she’s living it.
From Four Volunteers to a Movement
The early cleanups drew only four or five people. By the summer of 2019, the numbers began to swell. Local press took notice, and even international outlets covered the fledgling group. Ringel recalls being interviewed by a German television station and feeling that the project was becoming bigger than expected.
The turning point came that December. “I held a cleanup on 14th Street Beach, and 140 people showed up. I remember standing there, looking at this sea of volunteers, and thinking, wow — this isn’t just a weekend project anymore. I’ve created a movement.”
From that moment, Clean Miami Beach shifted gears. It registered as a nonprofit, built partnerships, and grew into a citywide force. Hundreds of cleanups and tens of thousands of pounds of trash later, the mission has become a fixture of Miami’s environmental landscape.
500 Cleanups and Counting
This August, Clean Miami Beach celebrated its 500th cleanup, and was joined by Relm Insurance. For Ringel, the milestone carried both personal and collective weight.
“I remember the very first one like it was yesterday. To look back now and realize how far we’ve come, it’s overwhelming in the best way. I feel proud and deeply honored that this community welcomed me with open arms, trusted me, and allowed me to inspire them to join this mission,” she says.
For her, the 500-cleanups mark not just a personal milestone but one for Miami Beach itself, and proof of what’s possible when people unite to protect the place they love.
Education on the Sand
For Ringel, cleaning beaches is only half the battle. Education is the other half. Programs such as Classrooms on the Sand and Microplastic Art Workshops make the issue tangible by letting students and residents handle the problem firsthand.
“Our programs make the waste issue real. When people can see and touch the problem, it stops being something abstract, it becomes personal,” she says. These workshops empower participants to recognize they have a voice and the power to make a difference. For Clean Miami Beach, educating the next generation of environmentalists is essential because they are the future leaders who will carry the mission forward.
EcoFest and Community Energy
One of the group’s biggest annual events is EcoFest, which showcases Miami’s environmental spirit. Ringel describes it as a mix of organizations, vendors, food, music, and shared purpose, all coming together to celebrate and protect the environment.
“It’s incredible to see so many people who care deeply for the planet all in one place,” she says. “One of my favorite parts is knowing that everything is 100% environmentally friendly, so the festival reflects the values we stand for.”
EcoFest has become a hub for collaboration, drawing in local businesses, nonprofits, and residents who want to align their lifestyles with sustainability.
Small Steps, Lasting Change
For many first-time volunteers, a cleanup is an awakening. At the start, beaches can look deceptively clean. But by the end, buckets are filled with cigarette butts, bottle caps, straws, and plastic fragments that never biodegrade.
Ringel says that shift in perspective is powerful: “When someone comes to their first cleanup, the change is almost instant. They’re shocked by how much trash we’ve collected from what seemed like a clean beach. That awareness is what keeps people coming back.”
Among the strangest finds was a hospital blood bag washed up on shore. “We all froze for a moment, just staring at it,” she recalls. “None of us expected to find something like that at a beach cleanup. It was both surprising and unsettling.”
But Ringel stresses that the goal is not perfection but persistence. Small actions lead to big impacts, she explains, and nobody has to be perfect. When millions of people each take small steps, even imperfect ones, the combined effect can be enormous.
That philosophy underpins everything Clean Miami Beach does — progress built on persistence, not perfection.
Looking Toward the Future
Asked what she hopes Miami’s beaches will look like in a decade, Ringel’s answer is simple: less trash on the sand and in the ocean. Even when waste is discarded properly, it can still make its way into waterways, so awareness remains crucial.
She hopes that by then conscious choices will have become more deeply embedded in Miami’s culture. If consumption slows and sustainability becomes a norm, she believes the city’s beaches can be safeguarded for generations to come.
How You Can Help
Whether it’s joining a cleanup, attending EcoFest, or refusing single-use plastics in daily life, every action counts. Learn more at cleanmiamibeach.org.
