Tires Flew & Heads Rolled at our Tijuana River Valley Cleanup!

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Outreach Intern, Ian!

Our Best Tijuana River Valley Cleanup Yet!

Hello, my name is Ian MacGregor and I am ILACSD’s newest Outreach Intern, I am a 16 year old high school student. I became an intern here at ILACSD because I wanted to assist in the effort to beautify our county. I’ve loved my time so far here and hope to continue interning for a long time.

This past Saturday more than 150 volunteers worked very hard to beautify the southernmost part of our county, the Tijuana River Valley. Just south of a sod farm and just north of the border, the volunteers worked very hard collecting trash and recyclables. They collected about 2000 pounds of trash, a whole dumpster full of bottles and other plastics and somewhere around 130 tires.

In previous years, we have had around 75 volunteers. Having double that amount was a great sign that our efforts to spread the word about the cleanups are working. Participants ranged from middle schoolers working to improve their community to 15 Job Corps participants searching for some community service to put on their résumé. From a clique of friends just looking for a great activity on a Saturday morning to a long time participant happy to see the growth of the cleanup.

You never know what you’ll find at our cleanups!

There were three sponsor booths there: our I Love a Clean San Diego tent or the registration tent, a WiLDCOAST tent that educating participants about their organization, and an Ocean Minded tent that gave away free merchandise. There was even a major TV news station covering the event.

During the cleanup, we found everything from shoes to styrofoam, from a manikin head to cans stuck in cement.

In the end, we are happy to see the growth of the event and to see the great change in the landscape of the river. Below is a Picture of the Job Corps Members, our staff and our interns sitting on the pile of tires we collected. Thank you to all our volunteers and all our sponsors.

From Surfboards to Wine Corks, Your Summer Recycling Guide!

Today’s post comes to you from Barbara Lopez, ILACSD’s bi-lingual Program Assistant for our recycling database & hotline, WasteFreeSD.org!

Summer is finally here and although we are able to enjoy the sun year-round here in San Diego, summer brings more backyard BBQs, pool parties, and visits to the beach. While enjoying the summer, you might come across some items that you no longer need. Before sending it to the landfill, use our summer recycling guide to see if there are any other disposal options available.

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Have a surfboard that you no longer ride? Before you put it in your trash can, consider recycling your old surfboard to an organization like Rerip. Rerip has set up a few locations in San Diego where you can drop off surfboards in any condition to be recycled. Collected surfboards are then separated into three different piles:

  • Ones that are in decent shape are repaired for minor damages and are then given to nonprofits or people in need.
  • Ones that have seen the last of their surfing days are given to local artists and organizations that use surfboards for various art projects.
  • Surfboards that are difficult to reuse are saved for Research and Development in use as filler for concrete.

To find a location to drop off an old surfboard, visit rerip.com.

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As you are digging through your closet looking for your beach gear, you may find that you have old flip flops that you no longer wear. Luckily, you can send in your old flip flops for recycling through FeelGoodz’s Recycle Your UnFlop Campaign. FeelGoodz will store your unwanted flip flops until they collect enough to ship to UniquEco, a company that will distribute the flip flops to Kenyan villagers who will make new items out of the flip flops. Visit the Recycle Your UnFlop page for more details.

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Many of us already know that aluminum cans and plastic bottles are easily recyclable by simply placing them into our curbside recycling bins. But there are other items from your summer BBQ that can also be recycled.

  • Plastic cups, as well as other plastic food containers, are now accepted in curbside recycling programs in San Diego.
  • Wine bottles are also recyclable but did you know that natural cork can be recycled? Thanks to companies like Recork and Cork Reharvest, residents can easily recycle corks at participating BevMo! and Whole Foods locations.

Have other items that need recycling? Our one stop recycling resource, WasteFreeSD.org, can help you find a location to recycle or properly dispose of common household items. Try it today!

Alex’s Goodbye – Becoming an Environmental Educator

Today’s post comes from Alex Mullen-Ley who has been ILACSD’s Environmental Educator for the past year. Alex grew up in San Diego and graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies, focusing her education on fresh water management and political ecology. Alex has been an amazing asset to the ILACSD team and we will all miss her as she moves on to continue her environmental education!

If you had told me five years ago that I would end up teaching K-12 students I would have never believed you.  I didn’t think I had the patience or the temperament required to be an educator.  And yet for the past year I have been standing in front of thousands of elementary school students, high school students, and even adults, teaching them about the causes of water pollution and how individuals can take action to protect the environment and care for their communities.

My time as the Environmental Educator at I Love A Clean San Diego has been an incredible learning experience. It is not easy to inspire 30+ young people, each with a unique background and different strengths and weaknesses, to listen and learn. Looking back on the past year I think it’s pretty unbelievable that only myself, the Education Coordinator, Samantha, and the two part time educators (four people!) spoke with over 30,000 students countywide.

One of the greatest challenges of being an environmental educator is redirecting the conversation away from the “gloom and doom” of the environmental problems and focusing instead on a more positive message.  Some students would groan audibly when they discovered that I would be talking about water pollution prevention, “Aww man, this is going to be boring!” But when I learned to focus my lectures on suggesting simple but tangible things that they could do to help solve the problems, the students were suddenly much more engaged and excited.

Over 1000 students & volunteers brought Alex’s design to life!

My favorite event while at ILACSD was Kids’ Ocean Day. I participated in last year’s event as part of the support staff but this year I was responsible for designing the aerial art and giving assemblies to the participating schools. The assembly was one of my favorite presentations because it was all about empowering students to protect the ocean and getting them excited about the beach cleanup and aerial art. The success of this year’s event is a testament to how well the staff works together. I’m not being egotistical when I say that the event was picture perfect.

Though much of my time was spent visiting schools around San Diego County, I did have the opportunity to work closely with the other staff members at ILCASD. I helped out with cleanups and development events, and worked the booth at countless community events. Because ILACSD’s events always run so smoothly, it isn’t obvious how much effort and coordination go into organizing them. The staff members at ILACSD are very good at what they do, whether that is educating the youth, coordinating events, or managing a fast-growing organization.

I have a good reason for leaving my position at ILACSD- I am going to begin graduate school at Scripps Institution of Oceanography where I will pursue my interests in ecosystem-based marine management. But I am grateful for all of the experiences that I have had as the Environmental Educator and I will miss being part of such an inspired, dedicated, and successful nonprofit. I wish only the very best for everyone at ILACSD and I will continue to attend cleanups and volunteer for other events. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Local Students Defend the Sea at Kids Ocean Day 2012

Many people will look at this picture and squint at it thinking, what is that?

“Are those rocks?” is a common question we’ve heard since releasing this picture after last week’s Kids Ocean Day. The design is definitely not made of rocks, or shells, or even trash from a cleanup. This amazing image is a piece of living art made up of over 1000 people. Yep, those are local San Diego students, parents, volunteers and the ILACSD staff sitting on the sand at Crown Point Shores sending a message to the rest of San Diego to ‘Defend the Sea.’

Kids Ocean Day is how we here at I Love A Clean San Diego get kids involved in celebrating World Oceans Day each year. This amazing work of art started as just an idea a few months ago, and was brought to life by ILACSD’s Environmental Educator, Alex Mullen-Ley and Education Coordinator, Samantha. Our staff were up before the sun last Thursday, mapping out and drawing Alex’s design in the sand.

As the buses began arriving, 3rd-5th grade students from 8 local schools started the day by cleaning up the beach, finding cigarette butts, beverage containers and small pieces of plastic.

The excitement started to build as we began lining the students up to file into the aerial art and the news helicopter started circling overhead. It was amazing to watch our octopus come to life piece by piece as the students and volunteers started to fill in the lines of the image. Most of the kids had never been a part of anything like this and were very excited to find their place in the sand.

Last but not least, the I Love A Clean San Diego staff sat down to form the eye of the octopus.

The second helicopter arrived, carrying our friend and photographer Rachel Lebowitz from Outside the Lens, another local nonprofit that teaches youth to use digital media to create change within themselves and their community. We were so impressed at how well behaved the students were as we waited for word from Rachel that she’d gotten the perfect shot!

Kids Ocean Day was coordinated in 5 cities in California, all using the theme ‘Defend the Sea’ in their designs. Click here to visit the Ocean Day website and see all of the amazing aerial art images!

Learning by Doing as an ILACSD Intern

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Community Events Intern, Gabe Grinstein.

Gabe (left) with other ILACSD Interns at San Diego River Days

Hello San Diego,

It is nice to finally be back in this great city after a long and chilly school year at the University of Michigan. I just finished my third year of college, where I am majoring in Earth and Environmental Sciences with a minor in the Program in the Environment (PITE). As you can see by what I study, I have a strong passion for the environment. Since I am graduating next May, I really wanted to see what working in an environmental organization was all about, and I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD) has been the perfect place.

As a homegrown North County kid, having attending Torrey Pines High School and being surrounded by this city’s renowned beauty, I have always held San Diego in high regard. However, many environmental problems still persist in our community, both coastal and inland, and joining ILACSD has given me a chance to make a real difference. After a month of working here I have learned many valuable skills that will go a long way in my work in the environmental field.

The whole staff has really made me feel at home right from the beginning. Of course there have been frustrating times where I get tasks such as endless filing of names and waivers, but then what are interns for?  However, they do give me responsibility such as second-in-command at the San Diego River Days cleanup. I also took a tutorial for ArcGIS mapping, which taught me how to make dynamic maps (such as all the details in Google Maps) so I will be able to map out storm drains throughout San Diego for ILACSD’s Storm Drain Stenciling program. This tool will be very useful for any environmental assessment in the future.

Just some of the trash picked up at Clean Canyons

This past Saturday we hosted Clean Canyons for a Clean Coast, an inland cleanup at Chollas Creek. With an attendance of 47 people, we had a decent turnout and stayed busy cleaning up the area. There was plenty of trash for everyone to grab the entire time, and I feel like we at least made a dent in the heavily polluted canyon. We ended up collecting 315 pounds of recycling and filling up one whole rolloff dumpster of trash, which added up to 4,360 pounds!

We are keeping the events rolling as we are hosting Kids’ Ocean Day this coming Thursday at Crown Point Shores. I have never participated in the cleanup, but have heard it is a blast and at the end a helicopter flies over and takes a picture of everyone sitting in the formation of a sea creature.

Aerial art formation at Kids’ Ocean Day 2011

I will have to start at 5 am that day, which is not favorable for a college student, but there is no better way to spend an early work day than at the beach.

Until next time,
Gabriel Grinstein

Coming Together to Keep San Diego’s Beaches Clean this Summer

Many people consider Memorial Day weekend to be the unofficial beginning of summer. The amazing weather and beautiful beaches of San Diego draw hundreds of thousands of locals and visitors to our shores, especially during holiday weekends. Unfortunately, many of those people leave a trail of trash behind them, polluting our beaches and the ocean. The Clean Beach Coalition is a group of local nonprofit organizations who work together to remind beach goers to be aware of the amount of trash they make and to prevent more debris from ending up in our ocean.

I Love A Clean San Diego, FreePB.org, Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper, work together with the help of sponsors like Pacific Beach Shore Club and Think Blue, the City of San Diego’s Storm Water & Transportation Department, to place hundreds of temporary trash and recycling bins along San Diego’s most popular beaches during the 4th of July and Labor Day holidays.

As part of the Clean Beach Coalition, we wanted to share a few tips to help keep our beaches as clean as possible this summer. You can also visit the Clean Beach Coalition website, www.cleanbeachcoalition.org, for more information.

Put trash in trash cans

This one seems obvious, right? Sometimes it means a few extra steps down the beach, but making sure your trash makes it IN a trash can is an easy way to make sure it stays OUT of the ocean. The CBC makes this even easier on holiday weekends by putting out extra trash and recycling bins in Ocean Beach, Mission Beach, Mission Bay and Pacific Beach.

Pack it in, pack it out

If you brought it with you, take it home! Don’t leave anything behind, no matter how small. Bringing food and drinks in reusable containers will minimize the number of wrappers, bottle caps, etc. for you to keep track of.

Recycle your bottles and cans

Bring an extra bag with you to collect your recyclables in case there isn’t a recycling bin near you. Even better, bring all of your beverages in reusable bottles!

Clean up after your pet

Not only is pet waste not fun to look at (or smell…or step in), it can contaminate our water supply with dangerous bacteria. Be sure to come prepared to clean up after your pets.

Use a funnel to prevent spills when re-fueling your boat or jet ski

It’s one thing to have a spill on land that will probably wash into the water at some point, but spilling oil or gasoline directly in the water? That’s easily avoidable pollution with the right tools.


Even though the CBC’s trash and recycling bins help to control litter on our beaches, inevitably some trash still finds its way onto the sand. We’ll be looking for volunteers to help us at our Morning After Mess cleanup on July 5th at various beach sites up and down the coast.

Make sure you’re following I Love A Clean San Diego on Facebook, Twitter or with our monthly e-newsletter for more information on how you can help us keep San Diego clean all summer long!

New Recycling Regulations for Businesses & Multi-Family Properties

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Hotline Manager, Amanda Sweet.

Do you recycle at your home or business? For most of you the answer is probably yes. However there are many businesses and multi-family properties around San Diego who are still not recycling.

Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 341 (AB341) into law this past October,  requiring all businesses that generate four cubic yards of solid waste per week, multi-family properties of five units or more (four units in the unincorporated San Diego County areas), as well as public entities to recycle.  The law will go into effect July 1, 2012.

Legislators recently set a goal to increase the state’s recycling rate to 75 percent by 2020 and AB341 is part of this broader push to conserve natural resources in California.

According to the state, approximately 75 percent of our waste stream comes from businesses, and while the residential recycling rate in the county’s unincorporated areas is 47 percent, commercial businesses are recycling less than 20 percent of their solid waste.

In addition to businesses, approximately 29 percent of San Diego’s multi-family complexes have five or more units in them, and many do not have recycling set up for their residents. A study done in 1999 found that an average multi-family complex recycling program diverted 15 percent of the residents waste through recycling. Every multi-family complex is different and programs can be tailored to meet the needs of the community, diversion rates can be even higher than 15 percent with a little effort by residents.

Recycling at your work or home can help save our natural resources and dwindling landfill space. If your place of work or home does not currently offer recycling, you can visit WasteFreeSD.org or call I Love A Clean San Diego at 1-800-237-BLUE to find out what options are available for you.

We Have a Winner! Sony Volunteers in Action Photo Contest

All of us here at I Love A Clean San Diego were excited to partner with Sony for our first ever Volunteers in Action photo contest at the 2012 Creek to Bay Cleanup. The event was a huge success and the contest gave our volunteers a chance to show off their hard work.

We asked volunteers to take pictures during the event and then send us the photo that they thought best captured the spirit of our Creek to Bay Cleanup. 58 entries were submitted from cleanup sites all over San Diego and the ILACSD staff narrowed it down to the top 3 which were then posted to our Facebook page for our fans to vote one the winner.

585 votes were cast and there was a clear winner…

The winning entry, taken at the Fashion Valley Mall cleanup site along the San Diego River.

Congratulations to Kevin, who took this photo of just some of the cigarette butts found at his cleanup site!

Thank you to all of the volunteers who submitted their pictures. Our next big cleanup event is Coastal Cleanup Day on September 15, 2012, we hope to see you there!

Creek to Bay Cleanup 2012: The Final Totals!

On Saturday, April 28th, 2012, volunteers from across San Diego County joined together for I Love A Clean San Diego’s 10th Annual Creek to Bay Cleanup. After gathering information from all of our sites, we’re excited to officially announce our totals:

88 cleanup sites (29 coastal, 59 inland)

6,000 volunteers

185 miles of coastal and inland areas covered

150,000 pounds of trash

These numbers reflect approximately 600 MORE volunteers than last year, but they collected a few thousand pounds LESS in trash and debris than the previous year’s totals. What does this mean? Our cleanup events like Creek to Bay and the upcoming Coastal Cleanup Day, are effective and San Diego is becoming a cleaner city! Although we expanded into brand new (and much dirtier) sites, many of our volunteer Site Captains noted a decrease in pollution in their areas. In the upcoming years, we look forward to focusing on newer, in-need sites that haven’t received as much attention in the past.

Updated: Photo contest voting has ended. You can see our winner here!

Although the cleanup has ended, don’t forget to vote for your favorite picture from the event on our Facebook page for our Volunteers In Action Photo Contest! Volunteers sent in photos that they thought represented the spirit of the Creek to Bay Cleanup with hopes of winning a brand new Sony camera. We’ve narrowed the contest down to three finalists:

San Marcos Creek Cleanup Site
San Diego River, Fashion Valley Site
Vista Duck Pond Cleanup Site

Visit our Facebook page, view the Volunteers in Action photo album, and “like” your favorite picture to help them win. Tomorrow is the last day to vote!!

Maddy Blake: My Internship with I Love A Clean San Diego

Today’s post comes from ILACSD’s Marketing & Community Events Intern, Maddy Blake.

My name is Madelyn Blake and I am a senior at the University of San Diego. I’ll be graduating in May 2012 with a double major in Political Science and Philosophy, but my passion lies with environmental stewardship.

As I entered the final semester of my college career, I knew that I wanted to gain internship experience in the environmental field. I’ve always been passionate about these issues but after traveling the world, I realized the harmful impacts human actions have on the natural world around us. While researching environmental non-profit organizations, I stumbled upon I Love A Clean San Diego and knew I Imagewanted to be a part of their cause.

I began interning with ILACSD in February as an Outreach Intern. I attended cleanup events in order to help volunteers with checking in and weighing the bags of trash they returned to us at the end of the day. I loved being out in the sun with like-minded individuals and having the ability to walk around and help out wherever I could. The events are full of energy, fun and dedication towards cleaning the natural habitat. Aside from working at cleanup events, Outreach Interns also attend community festivals and fairs. These are my favorite events because I am able to talk about our organization, our cause and recommend ways for people to get involved. I love sharing what ILACSD is doing in the entirety of San Diego County and learning from other people what environmental issues affect them most often. It provides me with more insight to the unique issues found in our neighborhoods and helps me to understand why ILACSD works throughout the county.

My favorite event this year was in La Mesa at Mt. Helix Park. I Love A Clean San Diego had a booth with an “Emergency” themed game for children. The kids had to pick up different types of trash without letting the buzzer go off, and then place the items in the appropriate places: recycling, hazardous waste, compost or regular, old trash. I loved when the kids were excited about placing the items in the correct places and how they explained why they chose that particular place. I was surprised at how knowledgeable they were and sometimes, they even outshined their parents! It’s refreshing to know that these younger generations have such a great understanding of the environment and realize the impact they can make by doing the right thing.

Although I began interning through our community events department, I started working with the marketing department as well. I primarily worked on research projects in the beginning, but have recently moved on to social media-based projects. This includes writing press releases, blog posts, Facebook updates and Tweets. It’s been really fun because I can be creative and show mine and ILACSD’s Imagepersonality through all of these outlets. This position has given me the opportunity to see our influence on the community through social media and how it allows us to reach more people through Internet-based mediums.

Because of my internships with I Love A Clean San Diego, I’ve learned things both about myself and the environment. As for the latter, the most striking information that I’ve acquired is a knowledge of items that can and cannot be put in the recycling bin. For example, I’ve lived my entire life thinking that flimsy plastic bags are recyclable… they’re not. And I vow to stay far, far away from them. I think the coolest part about ILACSD is their recycling hotline, WasteFreeSD.org – it’s so easy and convenient to use. As for myself, I’ve learned that working for a non-profit isn’t always glamorous work, but it’s motivating because you’re working for a higher cause. The people in this office are friendly and really know their stuff. They’re qualified and experienced and just in general, wonderful people who want to make a difference. I thank them for this opportunity and look forward to volunteering with them in future years to come.

The ILACSD staff would like to thank Maddy for her hard work this semester and we wish her the best of luck in the exciting adventures she will embark on after graduation!