PRIVACY POLICY

Updated April 17, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains our practices regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of information obtained in connection with the Paddle Out Plastic website (www.paddleoutplastic.org), as well as information obtained offline, such as at in-person events. When you visit the website, and when you provide information to Paddle Out Plastic and its officers, directors and representatives (including volunteers), collectively referred to as “we,” “us,” or “Paddle Out Plastic,” you are providing consent to Paddle Out Plastic’s practices as described in this Privacy Policy. If you disagree with any of the terms herein, please do not provide information to Paddle Out Plastic and immediately discontinue your use of the website.

1. Contact Details. If you have any questions or concerns regarding our Privacy Policy and our practices regarding information you provide to us, please contact the following by regular mail or email:

Paddle Out Plastic
2573 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite A-289

Torrance, CA 90505

or
Email: paddleoutplastic@gmail.com

2. Paddle Out Plastic’s Mission and Legitimate Interests in Personal Information. Paddle Out Plastic’s mission is to remove plastic waste from waters, collect and provide data regarding plastic waste in support of related citizen science, and educate the public about plastic waste, including through oral and written presentations and art. We collect information that serves to further our mission, and may from time to time use collected information various ways, including but not limited to:

Personalizing your interactions with Paddle Out Plastic, such as sending you information about events in your area, customizing your web and email content based on your interests, and otherwise targeting content and communications to you.
Responding to inquiries and fulfilling your requests, such as processing donations or sending you information.
Sending administrative information to you, such as information regarding the website and changes to our terms, conditions and policies.
For our internal purposes, such as enhancing, improving or modifying the website; determining the effectiveness of our education and outreach; operating and expanding our activities data; identifying usage trends; analysis; audits; fraud monitoring and prevention; and developing new products and services.
Conducting outreach and engaging with potential supporters, donors, and stakeholders who have expressed their interest in supporting Paddle Out Plastic’s mission and participating in Paddle Out Plastic’s activities.

3. What Information We Collect.

(a) When you visit the website or otherwise provide information to Paddle Out Plastic offline, online, or through third parties, Paddle Out Plastic, including its service providers and data/payment processors, may collect personal information that you provide, such as your name, address, email address and payment information. “Personal Information” is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable person. When you donate to Paddle Out Plastic through a third-party donation platform, we may receive your personal information from that platform. Depending on how you donate, we may receive information from various types of platforms, including online fundraising and matching gifts. When you donate through these platforms, your information is subject to the third-party service providing and data/payment processors’ privacy policies and practices as well as ours, and we encourage you to review their respective privacy policies.

(b) In addition, we may now or in the future use a variety of techniques to gather Other Information about your use of the website. “Other Information” is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an individual. Other Information may include, among other things, your IP address, browser type, mobile device type, content visited while on the website, and the duration of your visit to the website.

(c) If you submit any Personal Information relating to other people to us in connection with the website or through other offline, online, or third-party channels, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

4. No Collection of Special Data. It is our policy not to collect any special categories of personal data, such as personal data revealing political opinions or religious beliefs, genetic data, or information about criminal convictions and offenses. We may from time collect data about racial identification or ethnic origination in order to ensure that we are conducting an inclusive outreach, but will not tie that information to any specific individual.

5. Credit Card Information. Paddle Out Plastic does not collect your credit card information. Paddle Out Plastic uses third party service providers to process credit card donations. Paddle Out Plastic does not retain account information regarding those who donate by means other than credit card (such as, check or wire), although Paddle Out Plastic does retain information regarding the amount of donor’s contributions for tax purposes.

6. How We Collect Information.

(a) Personal Information That You Voluntarily Provide to Us. While you may visit our website without voluntarily providing any Personal Information, in some instances, such as if you wish to access additional content or participate in some of our activities, we may ask that you provide Personal Information, including when you complete volunteer participation forms or sign volunteer waivers. We may then supplement the information we collect from you with information we might collect from and about you from other online and offline sources, such as public databases, social media platforms and from people with whom you are friends or otherwise connected on social media platforms.

(b) Automatically Collected Data. As you interact with the Paddle Out Plastic website, we may now or in the future collect Other Information in a variety of ways as described on Schedule A attached to this Privacy Policy and incorporated into it by reference. Use of these other methods of automated collected with vary over time, and though we may use none, some, or all of these methods, we reserve the right to do so, or to cease doing so, at any time.

7. How We Disclose and Share Information.

(a) It is Paddle Out Plastic’s policy not to share, disclose, or sell information to any third party for their promotional use or for marketing purposes, whether or not relevant to Paddle Out Plastic’s mission. However, we may disclose and share information we collect as follows:

To our partners for collaboration projects in furtherance of our mission.
To our third-party service providers who provide services such as website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, auditing and other similar services.
To a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our operations, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
To the extent we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (1) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (2) to comply with legal process; (3) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (4) to enforce our terms and conditions; (e) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates; (5) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property and/or that of our affiliates, you or others; and (6) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

(b) We may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law. If we are required to treat Other Information as Personal Information under applicable law, then we may use it for all the purposes for which we use and disclose Personal Information. In some instances, we may combine Other Information with Personal Information. If we do, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information as long as it is combined.

8. How to Access, Correct, and Modify Information. If you believe any Personal Information we have obtained and maintain regarding you is incorrect, or you wish for us to delete some or all of your personal information, you may contact us at paddleoutplastic.org to do so. We may ask you to provide sufficient evidence of your identify for your own protection, and that you clearly identify the changes you wish or which information you wish to have deleted. In some cases, the deletion of your Personal Information will make it impossible for us to continue to provide you a personalized experience, including notifications of upcoming events.

9. How to Stop Receiving Communications from Paddle Out Plastic. If you would like to opt out of receiving content from Paddle Out Plastic, you can contact us at paddleoutplastic@gmail.com.

10. Children’s Information. Paddle Out Plastic does not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13 without parental consent, nor is the Paddle Out Plastic website directed at children under the age of 13. In the event that Paddle Out Plastic learns that it has collected Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13 without parental consent, we will take reasonable steps to delete the personal data. If you believe that we might have collected any Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13, please contact us at paddleoutplastic@gmail.com.

11. Security Measures. Paddle Out Plastic uses the web hosting services of Wix and the payment processing services of Zeffy. Wix and Zeffy provides security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under Paddle Out Plastic’s control. To learn more about the security measures implemented by Wix and Zeffy, please consult their respective websites. However, when you submit information to Paddle Out Plastic through our website, you should be aware that your information is transmitted across the Internet and that no method of transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. You also need to ensure you take appropriate steps to protect your information, which may include only providing information over a secure connection (private, not public, connection). If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is not secure, please immediately notify at paddleoutplastic@gmail.com.

12. Links to Third-Party Websites and Social Media Platforms. This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information, or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site or service to which the website links. The inclusion of links, if any, on the Paddle Out Plastic website does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us. In addition, we have no control over and are not responsible for the information collection, use, disclosure, or security practices (including the data security practices) of other organizations, such as Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Apple, Google, Microsoft, Wix, Zeffy, or any other app developer, app provider, social media platform provider, operating system provider, wireless service provider, device manufacturer, or service provider. Your interactions with these features and entities are governed by the privacy policy of the relevant company.

13. International Access, Cross-Border Data Transfers, and Data Storage. Our principal place of business is in the United States. If you are visiting or accessing our website from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States where our host’s servers are located and where we are based. You agree to such cross-border transfers of Personal Information. The website is controlled and operated by us from the United States and is not intended to subject us to the laws or jurisdiction of any state, country, or territory other than that of the United States. Any dispute arising out of, in connection with, or related to this policy shall be brought in the courts located in Los Angeles, California, and the parties hereby waive any objection they may have to personal jurisdiction in these courts.

14. Mobile Messaging Terms & Conditions.

(a) There is no fee from Paddle Out Plastic to receive text messages. Message and data rates may apply. Contact your mobile service provider for information about their message and data rates, if any.

(b) Data we may obtain from you in the course of SMS communications may include your mobile phone number, your carrier’s name and the date, time and content of your messages. We may use this information to contact you and provide any information or services you request from us.

(c) Alerts sent via SMS may not be delivered if the mobile phone is not in range of a transmission site, or if sufficient network capacity is not available at a particular time. Even within a coverage area, factors beyond the control of the wireless operator may interfere with message delivery, including the customer’s equipment, terrain, proximity to buildings, foliage, and weather. Wireless operators do not guarantee message delivery and will not be held liable for delayed or undelivered messages. We will not be liable for any delays in the receipt of any SMS message as delivery is subject to effective transmission from your network operator.

15. Changes and Updates to this Privacy Policy. Paddle Out Plastic may occasionally make changes to this Policy. Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted here so that you will know what information we collect, how we might use that information, and whether we disclose it to anyone. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices and this Privacy Policy.

Schedule A

Possible Automated Information Collection Methods

The following are automated collection methods that Paddle Out Plastic may use from time to time. Identification of collection methods on this list does not mean that Paddle Out Plastic is using all, some, or any of these methods. However, we may choose to use some or all in the future and this list is to provide transparency what such methods are and what they would include, if they are being used.

“Cookies” may be used to help monitor traffic and collect information about use of the website. Cookies are pieces of data placed on your device when you visit the website that help us recognize you when you come back to the website. Aggregated information collected from cookies can be used to measure the number of visits to the website, the average time spent on the website, the identity and number of pages viewed, and to gather other traffic data and information that allows us to improve the website. Cookie information may also be used for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, to display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience while using the website. Cookies may also be used to allow us to select which of our content is most likely to appeal to you and display it while you are on the website. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. However, if the user declines the attachment of any cookie, the user may not have access to the full benefits of the website.
A variety of third-party web and mobile app analytics and optimization services may be used to improve the website and enhance the visitor experience by monitoring, for example, mouse clicks, mouse movements, scrolling activity, text you type in the website, and similar activity. Such services are not used to collect any Personal Information not otherwise provided by you in using the website, nor to track your browsing habits across other third-party websites on our behalf.
Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Macintosh), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language and Internet browser type and version.
We may collect your IP address, which is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider. An IP address may be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user accesses the website, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP addresses is a common practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services. We may use IP addresses for purposes such as calculating usage levels, helping diagnose server problems, and administering the website.
We may aggregate Personal Information. Aggregated information does not personally identify you or any other user of the website (for example, we may aggregate Personal Information to calculate the percentage of our users who have a particular telephone area code).
How to Manage Automatically Collected Information

There are ways you can manage automatically collected information. You may set your web browser to inform you when cookies are being set before the cookie is stored on your device and refuse any request to set cookies, and choose not to accept cookies from Paddle Out Plastic. You may also erase all Paddle Out Plastic cookies from your hard drive. Additionally, you may choose not to provide your information when prompted by the website. However, that if you choose to reject or erase cookies, your ability to navigate the website may be limited. Further, in the event you choose not to share information, Paddle Out Plastic will be unable to respond to your requests for Paddle Out Plastic information, such as email notifications of upcoming paddles.