Tag: cleansd

Food Waste: Impact beyond the Plate

*Hi, I’m Shannon and as one of the marketing interns for* ILACSD I am excited to have the opportunity to explore the effects of food waste. My interest in food deserts and the lack of healthy food options in America led me to investigate how food waste affects our community and ways we can prevent it all together.

When I think about wasted food I imagine feeling guilty about leaving those last pieces of broccoli on my plate after dinner, however, food waste is much more serious than wasting a few good veggies. Food waste refers to the massive quantity of quality food that is wasted annually instead of being given to those in need. According to the National Resources Defense Council, “Forty percent of the food produced in the United States never gets eaten.” So what does food waste really do?

Food Waste Inforgraphic #1 — Source: www.sustainableamerica.org

Don’t worry there are ways to fight back against food waste!

The San Diego Department of Public Works has some great solutions to help you minimize food waste in the future. They rely upon the Environmental Protection Agency’s food recovery strategy to most efficiently and cost-effectively reduce San Diego’s food waste. Based on this hierarchy, San Diego’s DPW established a food waste system based on 3 simple steps: Reduce, Donate and Compost.

To best implement waste reduction in our personal lives, the DPW suggests re-considering portion sizes, limiting the number of menu items you order when you go out to eat and planning all the week’s meals so your grocery list only consists of what you need to make those meals. According to the DPW, it is important to be conscious of the volume of food you eat in comparison to the volume of food you waste.

Infographic about food waste — source: www.campuskitchens.org

Donating leftover food is another great way to reduce food waste! There are a lot of local organizations that lead San Diego’s effort to feed hungry San Diegans. Check out Feeding America and San Diego Food Bank for local options to donate your leftover quality food. Reducing food waste also means giving those without the means to feed themselves the food they need to survive.

CV_AfterSchool_compost (4) — Kids think composting is fun too!

The final step is using spoiled and leftover food for composting in your own backyard or neighborhood! Check out our previous blogs on composting to see how easy and fun it really is.

It’s important to remember that food waste is a serious national issue so let’s work together to help make San Diego even better than it already is and improve the lives of thousands in the process!

Hundreds attend kickoff event at Dixon Lake

Here at I Love A Clean San Diego, we like to make it as easy as possible for people to volunteer with us. That’s why we love our Adopt-A-Beach and Adopt-A-Canyon programs—people can schedule beach or canyon cleanups any day of the year, and we provide all of the cleanup supplies for free.

Thanks to a grant from the Escondido Charitable Foundation, we are now able to bring this program to two sites in Escondido—Dixon Lake and Kit Carson Park. These are the first adoptable sites in inland North County, and we’re thrilled to have this program as an option for people who live far from the nearest adoptable beach.

This past weekend, we hosted a kickoff event to officially launch the program. We invited volunteers to join us at Dixon Lake in northeastern Escondido.

And we sure did kick off this program with a bang! A grand total of 402 volunteers collected 348 pounds of trash and recycling from around the lake and nearby Daley Ranch hiking trails. Here’s a recap of how the event unfolded.

Our volunteers listen attentively to the kickoff and safety talk from Lexi, our Development Manager. She covered topics like how trash travels through the community, why cleanups are important, and local recycling rules. She also talked about how to get involved with the newly launched Adopt-A-Canyon program in Escondido. Some of these volunteers have already signed up online and scheduled their next Escondido cleanups!

A team from the Division 37 East Key Club paused for a photo in front of scenic Dixon Lake. Throughout the morning, lake visitors thanked our volunteers for helping to keep the park clean and litter-free!

Miles of trails run along the lake, so our volunteers were able to spread out and cover a lot of ground. Here, a team from North Coast Church walked along one of the lake trails hunting for litter with our trash grabber and bucket in hand!

You never know what you’ll find at our cleanup events! This young volunteer wins our Most Unusual Item prize for finding this full bottle of sparkling cider. Here’s to you!

We weigh all of the trash and recycling collected at our cleanups as a way of measuring our impact and accomplishments. When volunteers use their own buckets instead of single-use plastic bags, we simply subtract the weight of the empty bucket to determine the weight of the trash. The buckets get emptied right into the dumpster—no single-use plastics needed!

A big thanks to this massive volunteer team from UCSD’s Upward Bound program. We love working with big groups like this one to get a lot accomplished at our events. These young students were a huge help!

Interested in adopting one of these sites? Visit www.AdoptSD.org to learn more and to schedule your own cleanups. We can provide a free educational presentation to kick off your first cleanup, and if you complete three cleanups over the course of a year, you can apply to have your group’s name posted on a sign on site.

We’ll be back at Dixon Lake, as well as at four other Escondido sites, for our big countywide event, the Creek to Bay Cleanup, on Saturday, April 23^rd from 9AM-12PM. Registration opens April 1st at CreektoBay.org!

Adopt-A-Beach adopt-a-canyon cleansd cleanup creek to bay cleanup Dixon Lake Escondido pollution prevention UCSD volunteer

Moriah bridges love for craft beer & the environment

Today’s blog comes from our Community Program Coordinator, Moriah as she shares her love for San Diego craft beer and our environment!

I am known as the resident beer nerd at I Love a Clean San Diego. After working at a local brewery for about a year and brewing at home, it’s safe to say I know a thing or two about beer. One thing I didn’t know, however, was how connected my love of beer was to my love for the environment. In a city like San Diego, it’s not surprising that our local breweries value our environment as much as they value their craft.

Ways SD breweries minimize waste

Water conservation is a big issue for everyone in California, and that includes craft breweries. The industry average in California ranges from 3.5 to 6 gallons of water for every gallon of beer produced. Breweries in San Diego are leading the way in reducing the amount of water needed for their production. Local breweries are becoming increasingly water-wise. According to the California Craft Brewers Association, Ballast Point has reduced its water use by more than 24 percent, and Stone Brewing Company recycles more than 62 percent of its water daily.

One of the biggest ways that local breweries reduce waste is by using their spent grain in creative ways. Spent grain is the grain left over after the brewing process. Instead of throwing this used grain in the landfill, most of San Diego’s breweries donate it to local farms, where it can be used as livestock feed. Stone Brewing Company even uses it as a mulching tool in their garden. Some of their spent grain goes towards locally made soaps and dog treats as well!

Hop farm picture is Jordan Brownwood tending hops at Nopalito Farm & Hopyard. Photo credit: slowfoodurbansandiego.org

San Diego is known for its hop-heavy beers, but did you know that farms right here in San Diego County grow one of beer’s most important ingredients? Nopalito Farms is a local, family-run organic hopyard and orchard in North County San Diego. Since water conservation is always an issue in Southern California, Nopalito Farms has adopted sustainable farming practices like drip irrigation and mulching, and they work to maximize the rain that they get in Valley Center.

Imbibe with the earth in mind!

Bring a growler with you next time you pick up beer. Instead of cans or glass bottles that will end up in your blue bin, get a reusable growler and take it to the closest brewery. Get fresh, draft beer straight from the source! Be sure to check with the brewery first to see if they have any specific growler policies.
Reuse old beer or wine bottles to make decorations for your house. At our recent Sustainable Living Workshop that focuses on a zero waste home, our educators taught attendees how to reuse their old bottles and turn them into fashionable home decorations.
One example of a repurposed wine bottle from our Zero Waste Home Workshop.

Use reusable pint glasses instead of disposable cups. Even if you are at a beach or camping, you don’t need to resort to disposable cups, you can use a metal pint glass like ours.

Volunteer at Cupid’s Cleanup!

If all of this beer talk has you thirsty, you can join us and Benchmark Brewing Company on Saturday, February 13^th from 10am-12pm for a cleanup of the San Diego River! Why not switch up the typical dinner and a movie Valentine’s Day date and help us clean up the San Diego River instead. Then, if this blog has inspired you to try some local San Diego suds, you can join us afterward for a Valentine’s Day-themed mixer hosted by Benchmark Brewing Company! Families, sweethearts, kids, and singles are all welcome.

Register here! Help us spread the word by joining the Facebook event and sharing the cleanup with your friends and family.

california drought cleansd craft beer recycle recycling reduce reuse san diego san diego craft beer san diego environment volunteer water conservation zero waste

DITCHING DISPOSABLE PLASTIC – the bag edition

Since last fall, ILACSD has received a variety of questions about how plastic bag ban laws will impact the way we shop. For today’s blog, ILACSD’s Director of Development and Marketing, Morgan, will focus on Encinitas’s plastic bag ordinance and tackle some frequently asked questions. Read on to get the answers to your questions and learn about upcoming reusable bag giveaways!

As you may have heard, the California statewide plastic bag ban is now on hold until it can be put on the ballot for a statewide vote. While the battle rages on in the case of California vs. Big Plastic, there is also some news about a local plastic bag ban. You may have heard that back in October 2014, the Encinitas City Council voted to establish an ordinance limiting the usage of single-use plastic carry out bags at local stores. Well, the first phase of that ban is set to go into effect on April 10th. I Love A Clean San Diego is working hard to make sure that Encinitas residents and businesses are informed about the changes before they go into effect. If you live, work, or shop in Encinitas, you can turn to us to get all of your questions answered about how “Encinitas Municipal Code Section 11.26” will actually work.

Also, starting this weekend, ILACSD will conduct a series of bag giveaways at local grocery stores in the community. So keep an eye out on our Facebook and Twitter pages as we announce give-away dates, time and locations.

Here’s a rundown of some of our favorite FAQs:

Why is the City of Encinitas banning single-use plastic carryout bags? Well, plastic bags are extremely lightweight and can act like balloons blowing out of garbage trucks and landfills. These flyaway bags litter our communities, enter storm drains, and eventually end up in the ocean. Plastic is the most common type of litter found on local beaches. Marine life often become entangled in plastic bags and can mistake plastic particles for food, causing harm and sometimes death to the animals. New research suggests that this plastic is making its way up the food chain and is potentially affecting the seafood we eat.

An albatross that ingested multiple pieces of plastic. — Marine life often become entangled in plastic bags and can mistake plastic particles for food, causing harm and sometimes death to the animals.

I heard that I will have to pay 10 cents to use my own reusable bag. Is this true? NO! Customers will now have two choices at checkout: bring your own reusable bags to carry your groceries at no cost (some retailers even offer a rebate for each reusable bag you bring) OR purchase bags at checkout. You can buy reusable bags or paper bags for your groceries at a minimum cost of ten cents each. If you forget your reusable bags at home and don’t want to pay for bags, you always have the option of loading groceries back into your cart and putting them directly in your car without any bags.

What about using biodegradable bags? A “biodegradable” plastic bag is not a solution for litter issues associated with plastics. These bags can only break down under very specific conditions and do NOT break down naturally in our waterways, posing a threat to animal life. To fully degrade, these bags require heat and specific bacteria present in industrial composting facilities, and we don’t have any of those facilities in San Diego County.

Flush Puppies - alternatives to plastic bags — Check out other solutions to pet waste disposal in our blog “Scoop the Poop: Alternatives to Plastic Bags“.

I line my trash cans with plastic bags from the grocery store. Now what can I use? Trash can liners and large trash bags will still be available for purchase in stores. To cut back on waste, you can buy heavier-weight plastic bags and reuse them after emptying waste into your curbside bin. To cut out plastic bags altogether, line the bottom of your trash can with newspaper or other paper, and rinse it out periodically after use.

I use plastic grocery bags to pick up pet waste. What do I do now? There will still be many plastic bags in circulation. You can use bags from bread, produce, bulk products, or cereal, or purchase a roll of small pet waste bags. To avoid using plastic bags altogether, you can bring last week’s newspaper or a waste-scooping device on your walk and use it to pick up after your pet. Check out other solutions to pet waste disposal in our blog “Scoop the Poop: Alternatives to Plastic Bags”.

I’m worried about bacteria on reusable bags. Are they sanitary? Plastic produce bags will still be available for wrapping meat, poultry, and seafood. Consider carrying these raw meat items in a designated reusable bag each time, separate from fresh fruits and vegetables. To keep your reusable bags clean, just use common sense and everyday hygiene. Throw your cloth/fabric tote bags into the wash with your laundry load to clean them periodically. For thick plastic reusable bags, wipe them clean with a sponge dipped in warm, soapy water and allow them to air dry before storing. Find cleaning tips for your bags and other eco-friendly cleaning tips on our Pinterest board “Clean and Green”.

If you have other questions that are not listed here, please share them in the comments below!

bag ban cleansd encinitas give-aways pet waste plastic bags reusable bags reuse wastefreesd

Trendy Ways to Keep Clothing Out of Landfills

Today’s blog comes form Amanda, ILACSD’s Hotline Manager, and she is here to show you how to reduce your use and reuse your clothing. You may even make a buck doing it! Read on to learn more about how this new trend not only benefits your wallet, it conserves our planet.

Did you know what the average American throws away 65 pounds of clothing each year? Recent reports show the steady decline of available space in our landfills and the majority of municipal solid waste can be diverted through recycling and reuse, and that includes textiles. Thus, we want to redirect our clothing and give it another life before it heads to its final resting place at the landfill. Buying and selling used clothing help to reduce the heavy burden on our local landfills, and it allows you to do your part in reducing your use of our finite resources on our planet.

Thanks in part to Macklemore’s hit “Thrift Shop”, buying used clothing has become one of the latest fashion trends. There are now many options beyond your local thrift store to buy and sell used clothing and other accessories – allowing shoppers to find one-of-a-kind pieces. Plus, you can have the peace of mind your favorite top or dress found a new home and you free up some space for some new-to-you treasures! To get started, visit www.WasteFreeSD.org and search “Thrift Stores” to find a variety of stores that buy and/or sell used-clothing near you! Here are some of our favorite used-clothing vendors:

Buffalo Exchange buys, sells, and trades gently used clothing, shoes and accessories. In San Diego, Buffalo Exchange has stores in Pacific Beach and Hillcrest. Before coming in to sell clothing for the first time, Buffalo Exchange recommends calling ahead to see what items the store is looking for at that time. Buffalo Exchange is also a donation point for authentic fur apparel. Items made of fur are donated to their Coats for Cubs program where the items are then sent to rehabilitation organizations around the U.S. to provide a natural environment for rescued animals. We certainly don’t endorse purchasing authentic fur apparel, but it’s great to know that there is a positive way to repurpose those. Don’t forget to bring your reusable bag to Buffalo Apparel, because when you refuse a plastic bag, they give you a token to place into the nonprofit container of your choice, and they will make a donation just because you brought your own reusable bag!

Online thrift stores have also grown in popularity. They offer a wide variety of clothing for you to peruse and order from the comfort of your own home! ThredUP, for example, invites you to order a FREE Clean Out Bag online, stuff it with your unwanted items and then ship your clothing to be sold online. Any items that are not in a reusable condition go to their charitable partners or textile recyclers.

Vinted is another website and convenient smartphone app. You take pictures of the items you want to sell, list what condition it is in, and correspond directly with the buyer. Vinted handles the financial transaction for you, and you ship the items yourself to the buyer.

Acting locally is always best when it comes to reusing clothing you’ve grown tired of. Gather together a group of your best friends and have a clothing swap night! Emily, one of our environmental educators, recently hosted one at her church and it was a hit! Approximately 10 people attended and walked away with at least 5 new items – all for FREE! The remaining 143 items, a combination of shoes, accessories and clothes, were donated to the church’s clothing closet. Just because you are tired of your floral pink blouse doesn’t mean your friend is! This not only helps to reuse clothing, it reduces the need for greenhouse gases created in shipping clothing around the country.

Finally, if you just can’t seem to part with some sentimental pieces of clothing, repurposing is always a great option! If you have an old sweater that has seen better days, turn it into a cute scarf or even a reusable cozy for your coffee cup. Old t-shirts can also be turned into dog toys, bags or even a rug. The ideas are limitless!

You can find all of these great ideas and more on I Love a Clean San Diego’s Pinterest page! And don’t forget to check out www.WasteFreeSD.org and www.RepairSD.org to find other recycling and repair services near you!

cleansd clothing clothing swap landfill recycle reduce repairsd reuse textiles thrift stores wastefreesd

Greetings from DC!

Today’s blog comes from our Director of Development & Marketing, Morgan Justice Black, who along with another member of the ILACSD team, are in Washington DC this week for the Keep America Beautiful conference.

Hello from a chilly Washington, D.C. Even though it may only be 25 degrees outside, we are having a great time at the Keep America Beautiful National Conference learning more about how affiliates throughout the US create vibrant communities through community beautification, litter prevention, waste reduction and recycling! We made it to D.C., despite blizzard warnings and having to sprint through the Philadelphia airport to make our connection. And once we arrived…it was snowing! Quite a change for the two of us, both born and raised in San Diego! Well, the conference kicked off with a keynote address from Peter Kageyama, the man who has written two books about loving your city. How perfect, since we have a little fondness for the word “love” too! He spoke about the importance of gathering people together to interact casually in the outdoors. Can you guess where the most social place probably is in your city? The dog park!

Last night was the awards dinner, and I have to say that ILACSD certainly cleaned up! We were up and down accepting three…yep…three first place awards! And we have the pictures to prove it!

Natalie Roberts, Morgan Justice Black and Keep America Beautiful COO Becky Lyons with out awards! — Natalie Roberts, Morgan Justice Black and Keep America Beautiful COO Becky Lyons with our awards!

Our awards included first place for our Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, a program that we implement in San Diego in partnership with the Surfrider Foundation’s Hold onto your Butts program. Over the last five years, we’ve installed and maintained more than 100 ash receptacles in San Diego, helping make a dent in the amount of cigarette butts picked up during cleanups! In fact, in the areas that we’ve done this program, cigarette litter has decreased by an average 64%! This was a well deserved award for Natalie and her team in the Community Events Department!

KAB pic 3 — Natalie accepting the CLPP award from KAB staffer Bronwen Evans.

Next, ILACSD was the recipient of a storytelling award, and this is the first year that this award category has been offered! Keep America Beautiful judges sifted through dozens of promotional materials, media articles, social media messages and more to identify five affiliates who are doing best at telling their story of building better communities. This is a true team win for us, as every member of the ILACSD team is involved in writing blogs and contributing to our social media!

Morgan, accepting the Storyteller Award from KAB staffer Mike Rosen, who was celebrating his 3rd day on the job!

The most exciting part of last night was the final awards category, the National Affiliate Awards. ILACSD was honored to receive First Place and awarded “Affiliate of the Year”. The plaque might not fit in our suitcases, but it will make it back to San Diego eventually! This award is truly an honor, since ILACSD has been an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful since the 1970’s. In fact, at breakfast today a man came up to me and told me how proud I should be to be part of I Love A Clean San Diego because we were (and still are) a pioneer in the environmental movement! Back in the 1970’s, there were less than 50 KAB affiliates nationally, and we were the only one in California. Now there are more than 600 affiliates, and although I am biased, I have to say that we are one of the best!

So cheers from Washington, DC and thanks to all of our supporters for being part of our success!

Now it’s time for a nap…this three hour time difference is killer when the conference starts at 8am local time!

@kabtweet #kab2015 affiliate award cigarette litter prevention program cleansd I Love A Clean San Diego ILACSD KAB kab national conference Keep America Beautiful san diego

A Crash Course in Local Water Issues

Today, we share our last blog post from Environmental Educator, Monica Rosquillas, who will be setting out on a new path in 2015. A member of the ILACSD team for more than two years, Monica just completed the Citizen Water Academy program and provides a brief rundown of what she learned below. You can even test your local water knowledge in a quiz she created!

Last October, I had the privilege of being part of the inaugural class of the San Diego County Water Authority’s Citizens Water Academy.

The Citizens Water Academy is open to future and emerging leaders in the San Diego region that desire to learn about critical water issues in the region.

Fall 2014 Citizens Water Academy participants

It was a four session program the included presentations from local water experts and tours to local water facilities.

Here’s a short run-through of the academy and some interesting information I learned along the way.

Session 1 was held at the San Diego History Center in beautiful Balboa Park.
During this session, local water experts presented on San Diego’s water history and its future.
Within the last 24 years, San Diego has increased its water reliability through supply diversification.

Did you know where our tap water comes from?

Here’s Michael Page, ILACSD board member who also participated in the Citizens Water Academy. On the right is Mark Weston, Water Authority Board Chair. On the left is Ramesses Surban, Citizens Water Academy student

Session 2 was held at the Escondido Operations and Maintenance Center. We learned about Regional Water Infrastructure, Water Authority Operations, and the Water Authority’s Emergency Preparedness Efforts.

Did you know that San Diego uses enough water every day to fill Qualcomm Stadium twice?

During session two I learned all about what goes into importing water to San Diego, storing it, treating it, and delivering that water to our homes. I have always been conscious of my water use but I now have a new appreciation of San Diego’s clean and reliable tap water.

Ever wonder what happens to our water supply in case of an emergency? Watch this video to find out.

Session 3 was at the North City Water Reclamation Plant.

There, we took a tour of San Diego’s Advanced Water Purification Facility, where wastewater is treated and recycled.

Session 4 was a busy day!

After breakfast and check in at the Escondido office, we got on a bus and headed over to the Carlsbad Desalination Plant.

The Desalination plant is a $ 1 Billion project expected to produce drinking water for the San Diego region as soon as fall 2015. The plant will meet about 7% of the county’s water demands in 2020.

Here’s how it works.

We then headed over to Olivenhain Reservoir. This is the region’s first major new dam and reservoir in 50 years. The Olivenhain Reservoir can store 24,000 Acre Feet of Water.

Afterwards, we took a trip over to Stone Brewery in Escondido and were able to tour their water recycling facility.

Finally, we headed back to the Escondido office for our Graduation Ceremony.

Here I am with Mark Weston, Board Chair, and Maureen A. Stapleton, General Manager of the San Diego County Water Authority

The Citizens Water Academy provided me with the opportunity to learn firsthand from local water experts about the region’s water supply that I have shared with hundreds of students in San Diego County, hopefully inspiring them to conserve this precious natural resource. If you’re interested in participating in the Citizens Water Academy, a project of the San Diego County Water Authority, they are currently accepting applications for their Spring 2015 class. Learn more information online.

Think you’re a water expert? Test your local water knowledge in a quiz that Monica created based on what she learned in the Citizens Water Academy!

citizens water academy cleansd community outreach programs drought environment environmental education I Love A Clean San Diego ILACSD san diego county water authority san diego drought san diego water conservation water conservation

ILACSD Kicks Off America Recycles Day Campaign!

Today’s blog comes from our Hotline Program Assistant, Barbara and Hotline Manager, Amanda! Our hotline team is gearing up for America Recycles Day and they want to make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest and greatest tips for waste reduction, while having a little fun! Read more below about what you can look forward to leading up to America Recycles day.

America Recycles Day is the nation's one and only day dedicated solely to recycling, so get ready for 1 month of recycling tips and tricks from ILACSD to get you geared up for the BIG DAY! — America Recycles Day is the nation’s one and only day dedicated solely to recycling, so get ready for 1 month of recycling tips and tricks from ILACSD to get you geared up for the BIG DAY!

Mark your calendar for America Recycles Day on November 15^th! This year marks the 7^th Annual America Recycles Day- the only nationally-recognized day to celebrate our waste reduction milestones and to share ideas with one another. The goal of America Recycles Day, an initiative of Keep America Beautiful, is to inspire communities to recycle more and correctly all year long. On that note, starting today, I Love A Clean San Diego kicks off its own America Recycles Day campaign! From now until November 15^th, ILACSD will share with you tips and tricks to help minimize your impact on local landfills!

sorted recycling — Thankfully, in SD most recyclable items can commingle in one bin! Paper, rigid plastics, glass, aluminum, and cartons.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to receive our helpful tips. You can look forward to posts about –

#DIY upcycling tips – give old items a second life!
#TransformationTuesday
Recycling humor – yes, it does exist!
Tips for hard to recycle items

I Love A Clean San Diego started as an organization to combat San Diego’s litter problem, and has quickly evolved to address residents’ recycling needs, as well. ILACSD first started its recycling hotline in 1972, focusing on keeping thousands of Christmas trees out of landfills. Today, we continue to run our one-stop recycling resource, WasteFreeSD.org, and our newest addition, RepairSD.org!

Christmas Tree Recycling, 1972 — Challenges in finding out where to recycle Christmas trees spurred ILACSD to start a recycling hotline in 1972…more than 40 years later, it’s still going strong. Give us a call today, 1-800-237-BLUE!

As San Diego moves towards a 75% diversion rate by 2020 and a zero waste goal by 2040, we are dedicated to be your go-to resource to help reach these goals. Although this may appear to be a lofty goal, ILACSD is here to help inform fellow San Diegans and ultimately, keep valuable resources out of local landfills.

More than 51,000 Americans have already taken the America Recycles Day pledge on Keep America Beautiful’s webpage. By taking it, you pledge to learn more about the materials that can be recycled, reduce your waste by recycling, and encourage others to do the same. Click here to take the pledge today!

For more information on all of your recycling, reuse, and repair needs, visit WasteFreeSD.org and RepairSD.org!

america recycles day ARD cleansd I Love A Clean San Diego recycle san diego recycling upcycle waste diversion zero waste

What’s Better Than Recycling? Reuse and Repair!

Today’s blog post comes from ILACSD’s Program Assistant – Educator, Bethany Edgar, who breaks down the Reuse & Repair area of San Diego’s Earth Fair 2014.

Thanks to the efforts of the SD Reuse and Repair Network and their partners, this year’s Earth Fair in Balboa Park featured an area dedicated exclusively to the important topic of “Reduce, Reuse, Repair, and Repurpose.” This area was the perfect opportunity for I Love A Clean San Diego to promote our new repair database, www.RepairSD.org. People were excited to hear about this helpful new resource, commenting how difficult it can be to find information online about repairing things. After trying out the database on a tablet at our booth, quite a few people said they were impressed with how user-friendly the database is and that they would definitely use it and help spread the word about this useful tool!

For those of you who may have missed out on this unique and inspiring section of the fair, here are some highlights:

SD Reuse and Repair Network

This network of local businesses, municipalities, non-profits, and interested citizens created a stage area offering workshops for fairgoers on a variety of topics including bike repair, San Diego’s zero waste plans, and furniture transformation. In their booth they showcased a number of creatively repurposed furniture items that were rescued from a truck of leftovers from a Goodwill auction on its way to the landfill, including:

This old headboard was turned into a coffee table

A dresser drawer turned into a herb garden box and a broken chair turned into a plant stand!

Bikes del Pueblo

“Learn, fix, build, ride”

Bikes del Pueblo is a dedicated collective that seeks to empower local communities through bicycle education by offering open workshops to assist people in building, maintaining, and repairing their bikes. During the Earth Fair they taught several bicycle repair workshops and provided free bicycle repair manuals to fairgoers. You can find them every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm at the City Heights Farmer’s Market where they set up a mini-shop to walk people through the process of fixing their own bikes.

Boxed Green

“Cheap, gently used boxes near you”

Boxed Green works to reuse cardboard boxes by connecting San Diegans who need boxes with local retailers who have boxes to spare. On Boxed Green’s user-friendly website, San Diegans can choose a nearby retailer, purchase boxes online for just $1 per box, then pick up the gently used boxes at their convenience directly from the retailer. This unique service saves trees and saves customers time and money when looking for moving boxes. Plus, a portion of all sales is donated to eco-focused non-profits!

Knife Savers

“Lost your edge? We can get it back for you!”

Jim Green, owner and proprietor of Knife Savers, scours thrift stores and swap meets for high quality old knives that need repair and then sells the refurbished knives at reasonable prices, thereby keeping precious resources out of our landfills and providing a valuable service to the community. Contact Jim at jimg@knifesavers.com or (619) 846-6526

reInterpret

“materials for art & learning”

Judith Toepel has created this innovative non-profit as a community building resource for clean, usable materials that may have been considered waste. reInterpret collaborates with schools, teachers, artists, and businesses on the topic of sustainability, industry, arts and education. They offer teacher workshops to inspire the use of recycled materials to aid in learning math, science, language, and creative arts as a means of meeting the Common Core Standards.

Of course, if you are ever looking for repurpose ideas, you can always check out our Pinterest page, or if you need a place to repair items, look no further than www.RepairSD.org.

cleansd earth fair san diego green living san diego I Love A Clean San Diego ILACSD recycling repair repairsd reuse waste disposal waste free wastefreesd zero waste

Protect Our Coast and Oceans Fund

Protecting the CA coast is now as easy as checking a box!

What if I told you that by simply checking a box, you could provide a meaningful donation to protecting the California Coast? That’s right, this year as you file your state income tax returns, you can show your love for California’s coast at the same time. Just enter a donation of any amount next to the Protect Our Coast and Oceans Fund – listed in the “Voluntary Contributions” section on the last page of your California tax return. Your contribution will go back into our communities, providing grants to clean up shorelines, restore habitat, bring kids to the coast (some for the first time), and promote beach access.

The donation goes to to the California Coastal Commission’s Whale Tail Grant Program, which provides a ton of funding for some local San Diego programs, including a couple of I Love A Clean San Diego programs. Since its creation, the Whale Tail Grant Program has brought almost a million dollars, $902,231 to be exact, to San Diego County coastal and marine education programs!

Protect our coast and oceans for all of us, including our furry friends who love to enjoy some time at the beach.

Some of the programs that benefit from this funding are I Love A Clean San Diego’s “Adopt-A-Beach” Program, UC San Diego’s Birch Aquarium “School to Shoreline” Program, and the American Lung Association’s 1-800-NO SMOKE Campaign. All of the programs that receive funding from the Whale Tail Grant program are dedicated in some way to either keeping our beaches and coastal areas clean and accessible, educating people about pollution prevention, or getting kids that maybe have never been to the beach educated about the environment and into the water.

For more information about the Whale Tail Grant Program or how to donate, check out www.checkthecoast.org. You can double your impact by getting a Whale Tail license plate next time you are renewing your car registration. Those funds also go right back into the community to support marine conservation.

Funds from the Whale Tail license plate program support ILACSD's Adopt-A-Beach program! — Funds from the Whale Tail license plate program support ILACSD’s Adopt-A-Beach program!

Adopt-A-Beach ca state tax form california coastal commission check the coast cleansd coast4u grants I Love A Clean San Diego marine conservation my coast whale tail license plate