After the fireworks faded and the crowds headed down the mountain, volunteers took to Lake Tahoe’s shores for the 10th annual Keep Tahoe Red, White and Blue Beach Cleanup.
To commemorate the tradition lasting for a decade, the organizers decided to offer something unique at each of the six pick-up sites. This included educational displays about single-use plastic waste and aquatic invasive plants, as well as opportunities to chat with regulars of the Tahoe Blue Crews.
But the star of this year’s cleanup was found trawling the sands of Kings Beach, not afraid to get a little dirty for the cause.
It was BeBot, short for “beach robot,” a solar- and battery-powered beach-cleaning device the size of a riding lawn mower.
Mounted on two caterpillar tracks and decked out in a blue-and-white paint scheme, complete with a Keep Tahoe Blue bumper sticker, the low-humming custodian was the main attraction at Kings Beach before its operators took it to Zephyr Cove and other popular Tahoe landmarks.
The robot is controlled by remote, crawls across the sand at 2 mph and works by sifting through the first few inches of sand to trap litter like plastic water bottle caps, forgotten sand toys and cigarette butts in a grate.
Developed by French company Poralu Marine and deployed and operated by Eco-Clean Solutions, it was specifically designed to do its job without harming local flora and fauna and, in doing so, prevent erosion at the lake.
“We do not want to impact the ecosystem or environment of Lake Tahoe in a negative way while trying to do a positive good,” said JT Chevallier, a co-founder of Eco-Clean Solutions.
The permit issued by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency that allows the company to operate the machine on Lake Tahoe beaches is also meant to ensure that they meet a “high environmental threshold,” Chevallier said. As a condition of their permit, any material collected by BeBot must be sorted by hand, with operators separating trash from rocks and twigs and ensuring that native materials stay on the beach.
“Everything that belongs here, stays here,” Chevallier said.
The robot was piloted in the summer of 2022, and has collected more than 6,000 pieces of trash across 11 collection sites. During one test, it picked up 300 pieces of trash in the same area a group of human volunteers collectively found just 30 items.
Each BeBot costs around $65,000, according to Chevallier, and the robot used at the beach cleanup on Wednesday was funded by nonprofit groups like Keep Tahoe Blue, as well as via a grant through the federally-funded Lake Tahoe Restoration Act.
At Wednesday’s event, volunteers cleaned Kings Beach to the best of their ability before Chevallier and Eco-Clean Solutions CEO and co-founder JB Harris ran BeBot through the same area to sift through the sand.
“We think that it’s a wonderful complement to human-powered beach cleaning that Keep Tahoe Blue does with their beach crews,” Chevallier said. “When you look at the sand, you’re picking things up at a surface level, and we’re able to find that ugly truth beneath the first layer of sand.”
Cynthia Keeler, a resident of Kings Beach, said that she brings her sons, Jack and William, to the cleanup every year.
“I want to instill in them the importance of cleaning up, not just after themselves but in our area for the community,” Keeler said, watching William as he followed BeBot, peppering Harris with questions. “Usually they get a little bored at this point, but the robot is keeping them engaged.”
What has BeBot found?
Last year, according to the Bay Area News Group, BeBot collected 4,497 pieces of litter between June and October after canvassing 72,000 square feet of beaches including Sand Harbor, Camp Richardson and Tallac Historic Site. Of that, 45% was plastic, followed by bottle caps and straws at 11% each. Cigarette butts represented 9% of the trash and broken glass 8%. The rest was miscellaneous debris.
Chevallier said that the league and its partners have ordered another BeBot, which will be arriving in a couple of weeks to increase their trash-collecting capacity.
According to the league, 402 volunteers collected 8,559 pounds of trash over the course of three hours across six sites Wednesday. The most refuse — 6,279 pounds — was found on Zephyr Shoals on Nevada’s east shore.
In the days ahead, organizers will sort, tally and analyze data on the trash collected by both volunteers and BeBot.
Marilee Movius, a spokeswoman for Keep Tahoe Blue, said data on trash collected during these events has been used to advocate for environmental policy in the basin. South Lake Tahoe’s 2015 plastic bag ban, a 2018 polystyrene ban and a ban on plastic water bottles going into effect next year were all influenced by the league’s presentation of data on the types of trash most commonly found on Tahoe beaches.
“We are really excited to have volunteers come out today who live in Tahoe, and also those who are making it part of their vacation and having this be the end of their Independence Day celebration,” Movius said. “Volunteers are collecting data that we could (use to) advocate for solutions.
