The Keep Tahoe Blue League is using volunteers, divers and a beach cleaning robot by the name of BEBOT to help clean the beaches right after the 4th of July weekend.

Officials say Tahoe’s beaches are often left littered with trash, which can hurt wildlife and the Lake’s unique water quality and clarity.

Every July 5th since 2013 the League to Save Lake Tahoe (Keep Tahoe Blue) recruits hundreds of volunteers to participate in organized efforts to clean Tahoe's beaches.

They tested the new robot, to collect what debris may be left underneath the surface of the sand.

Today they ran an additional experiment, sending out their volunteers to pick up around 500 square feet, before the robot cleaned below the surface. The robot cleaned 1 to 2 inches underneath the sand today, but it can clean as deep as 4 inches underneath the surface. 

According to 10 years of data collection, what officials have noticed is less of the larger items of trash and more of the smaller objects. Jesse Patterson, the Chief Strategy Officer for Keep Tahoe Blue adds "Less volume, less weight, but more and more objects and the object we're finding are small tiny things like microplastics, bottle caps, cigarette butts all these things that are just out of sight."

The robot is solar powered and electric and runs on tracks as it sifts through the sand.

June 15th was the first time they gave the robot a try and today, Patterson says, was only the 2nd time it's ran on the entire west coast.

Patterson mentions "And we've been doing these cleanups now for 10 years with hundreds of volunteers who are kicking butt keeping our beaches clean, but we're worried were not getting it all and if we don't get it off the beach now it'll end up in the lake behind us."

Even with clean up diving teams he says the trash is almost impossible to get out of the lake. They're hoping to prove the BEBOT robot can be a staple to continue to keep Tahoe blue.