Clean Coast Collective
Nat Woods & Dan Smith
Episode 2
Clean Coast Collective | Nat Woods & Dan Smith on keeping our beaches clean and personal transformation
Nat and Dan started Clean Coast Collective because they were blown away by the amount of plastics in our oceans and on our beaches. What started as weekend trips to the beach to escape their 9-5 jobs organically escalated to them travelling around the entire coastline of Australia to further explore and understand the problem. What they quickly realised was that some of the most polluted beaches are the ones furthest away from the city.
Staring with just an instagram account, they quickly gained a following, posting from some of the most remote parts of Australia. Them wanting to enable their tribe to come along for the ride, they took a leap to start an ING DreamStarer campaign to crowdfund an expedition to Cape York to clean one of Australia’s most pristine beaches. They were successful, and since then they’ve run a number of expeditions, and grow awareness of their work through their tribe activating their message when they return home.
Throughout our interview it became apparent how Nat and Dan’s work has a much greater impact than cleaning our beaches. The transformation that they see their tribe go through, and the sense of leadership they discover on the trip has become stand out.
Finding their home base in Byron Bay they also Founded The Corner Palm, a community co-working and creative events space that connects people with one another, bigger impact, and creative pursuits.
“It started as a way to clean a beach but now it’s like the beach clean is just a tool to take people on a personal journey ….. you see them come out empowered”
— Nat Woods, Clean Coast Collective

Clean Coast Collective | Nat Woods & Dan Smith
Podcast
Mentioned in conversation…
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How Clean Coast Collective started small inspired by Nat and Dan’s weekend escapes to the beach from their government jobs.
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Taking the leap and embarking on a trip around the Australian Coastline to understand what was happening in regards to plastics and how they could help.
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Launching a kickstarter campaign, while driving across Australia with zero internet, and how it uplevelled the game for them.
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The Trash Tribe expeditions and the incredible transformations that happen on the road.
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How through their love of community they created a much loved co-working and creative events space in Byron Bay.