Here's your chance to get back to the beach -- or at least to help keep it clean and safe, wherever you live. 

Saturday (9/25) is the 25th annual International Coastal Cleanup, when hundreds of thousands of volunteers pick up millions of tons of trash and debris that's either on the shore - or destined to wash up there, after it gets dropped in a parking lot, street or vacant lot.

Last year, nearly 500,000 volunteers worldwide collected more than 7 million pounds of trash, according to the Ocean Conservancy, which coordinates the cleanup efforts of local environmental groups.  Here in Maryland, about 45,000 individual pieces of debris got rounded up.

There are about two dozen cleanups planned across Maryland, from Ocean City and Assateague Island to Antietam Creek near Hagerstown.  Ten of them are in the Baltimore area - three in the city, two in Baltimore County, three in the Annapolis area and one each in Harford and Howard counties.  The city cleanups are at Fort McHenry, Fells Point and the Jones Falls trailhead.

Not all are on the waterfront, you say?  That's because the bulk of the trash that winds up on our beaches starts out being dropped or dumped inland, then gets washed into a nearby storm drain or stream and on into the ocean or Chesapeake Bay.

The cleanup by the manmade wetland at Fort McHenry - already has all the volunteers it can handle.  But the rest, I'm told still could use some volunteers.  The weather promises to be fair.  To find and sign up for a cleanup near you, go here.

(Cleanup by Fort McHenry, 2009. Photo by Geri Schlenoff, state coordinator, Int'l Coastal Cleanup)