Let’s Do This.

A Cleaner Alki is a West Seattle cleanup group that grew out of a long-running Saturday morning beach cleanup between brothers and fourth generation West Seattleites Erik and Garet Bell.

In the first year of the Pandemic Erik found himself anxious and depressed for the first time in his life, literally not knowing what to do with himself most mornings. A toxic political climate, the pandemic, financial insecurity and three kids in college were not adding up to a sense of serenity. An hour cleaning up along Alki however was often the remedy for getting the day moving and his mind reset.

After several months of these daily therapy cleans Erik posted an open invitation on a local Facebook group, West Seattle Connection, inviting neighbors to join him at the beach the following morning for a cleanup after a messy Memorial Day party.

Moved by the community’s response, he followed up with a manifesto of sorts the following day describing how the cleanups were helping him through the pandemic, and asked if this resonated with others, would they be interested in creating a cleanup community in West Seattle? An outpouring of support helped springboard the launch of A Cleaner Alki (By and By) on July 2, 2021.

In the years that have followed, the group has grown to over 1,800 members and has taken their mission off the beach and out into the community to address the many complicated cleanup needs around Seattle.

Members can now choose between organized event cleans at the beach, residential neighborhoods, schools, junctions, highway cleanups, industrial areas, abandoned encampments and various illegal dumping grounds, as well as self-led Block Drop cleanups deployed all around the community.

We look forward to creating opportunities for neighbors to help create cleaner, safer spaces and a culture of environmental stewardship in the Pacific Northwest. Building community through purposeful action and fellowship. Alki (By and By)