Get ready for our next community cleanup in Sweetwater! Join us on Saturday, February 3rd from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Sweetwater Regional Park’s Open Space Preserve located at 5102 Sweetwater Rd, Bonita, CA 91902 to clean up trash and recycling and prevent waste from traveling through the Sweetwater Reservoir to our coast.
We will have cleanup supplies, snacks, and water. We also provide community service hours and Letters of Appreciation for volunteers. This is a great opportunity for students and families to learn ways to protect our local environment!
We encourage volunteers to bring their own reusable items such as water bottles, work gloves, and buckets to promote zero-waste practices and help us in our mission to have a zero waste, litter free and environmentally engaged San Diego region!
All volunteers are required to fill out a waiver form to participate and anyone under the age of 18 needs a waiver signed by their parent or guardian.
Help us kick off a brand new year of cleanups with our first community cleanup of the year in Bonita! Join us on Saturday, January 27th from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Western Staging Area of Sweetwater Regional Park located at 3121 Bonita Rd, Chula Vista, CA 91910 to clean up trash and recycling and prevent waste from traveling through the Sweetwater Reservoir out to our coastline.
We will have cleanup supplies, snacks, and water. We also provide community service hours and Letters of Appreciation for volunteers. This is a great opportunity for students and families to learn ways to protect our local environment!
We encourage volunteers to bring their own reusable items such as water bottles, work gloves, and buckets to promote zero waste practices and help us in our mission to have a zero waste, litter free, and environmentally engaged San Diego region!
All volunteers are required to fill out a waiver form to participate and anyone under the age of 18 needs a waiver signed by their parent or guardian.
Join ILACSD, EDCO, and the Imperial Beach City Council for another Clean Cities Initiative: Imperial Beach Cleanup. Volunteers will meet at Red House Kitchen and pick up litter around the area to preserve and enhance the local community! With help from over 123 volunteers at our last CCI cleanup, we removed 336 pounds of trash and recyclables from the local environment! Help us increase our impact by volunteering and bringing along a friend!
ILACSD will bring all the cleanup supplies and explain the impact of this cleanup on our watershed. We also provide community service hours and Letters of Appreciation for volunteers. This is a great opportunity for students and families to learn ways to protect our local environment!
We encourage volunteers to bring their own reusable items such as water bottles, work gloves, and buckets. This helps us work toward our vision of a zero waste, litter-free and environmentally engaged San Diego region!
All volunteers are required to fill out a waiver form to participate. Anyone under the age of 18 needs a waiver signed by their parent or guardian.
We will have a free succulent planting activity after the event with Little Dandelions!
We will have a free Little Dandelions Upcycle and Plant activity after the event! You’ll be able to use found containers to plant succulents and take home your new upcycled planter.
Be a part of one of our biggest cleanups of the year!
Join us on Saturday, April 21st, as we beautify 100 sites in San Diego County for the 16th Annual Creek to Bay Cleanup! Last year, a record breaking 6,588 volunteers came out to our 112 sites and successfully removed over 194,169 pounds of litter and debris. Instead of turning a blind eye to the abundance of litter found across San Diego County, our volunteers channeled their passion into action for San Diego’s environment to protect and enhance it.
Registration is now open! For more information or to select a cleanup site and register, visit CreektoBay.org.
Participate in our contests:
Show off your creative side and reduce the plastic we use by participating in the Bling Your Bucket Contest!
Capture a photo that shows off your zero waste cleanup habits and enter for the chance to win a Sony Cybershot Camera!
The holidays have officially arrived! It’s time to spend some quality time with the people we love and reflect upon all the things in our life that give us a reason to be thankful. With all that you’ve helped us accomplish so far this year, we have a lot to be thankful for in our offices! We’re thankful for dedicated volunteers who continually show up cleanup after cleanup and never let their passion for our planet fade. We’re thankful for beautifully clean beaches, litter-free landscapes, and healthy habitats. We’re thankful to be serving a cause that is so near and dear to all of us – creating a zero waste, litter-free, and environmentally engaged San Diego region.
We’re also thankful to know we’ve got supporters like you to help us do even more for our communities moving forward. There are several ways in which you can help support ILACSD this holiday season:
Participate!
In our offices, we’re beyond thankful to all of our volunteers! Each and every one of you makes the work we do possible. While our volunteers have already made such a huge impact on San Diego, there is still work left to do. If you have time off for the holidays, use that opportunity to register for one of our final cleanups or workshops before the New Year and help end the year standing stronger than ever for a clean San Diego!
Spread some joy by introducing your loved ones to your love of volunteering!
Educate!
Spending time with your loved ones over the holidays? Share with your friends and family what you’re thankful for this year, like your ability to make a difference for the environment and your community! Invite those special people in your life to join you at a cleanup or zero waste workshop to learn more about ILACSD. Or talk to them about how we can all take small steps to positively impact our planet – like by reducing our food waste! If you host dinner, consider supplying your guests with reusable containers for leftovers with a little environmental love note!
Celebrate!
Holiday festivities go hand in hand with gift giving. While we all understand that consumerism isn’t the best for our environment, there are ways we can be eco-friendly with our gift exchange. Give the gift of going plastic free with reusable alternatives tosingle use items. Check out the ILACSD online store for reusable water bottles, straws, sporks, cups, and totes! Not only do these items make terrific holiday gifts or stocking stuffers, your purchases directly help our environment by providing the necessary resources needed to host our 250+ cleanups throughout the county in 2018. Oh, and don’t forget that a cloth napkin can make for an awesome alternative to wrapping paper (this helps decrease the 2 million tons of wrapping paper that will end up in a landfill this year)!
Cloth napkins make a great gift AND gift wrap so you can skip the wasteful wrapping paper!
Are you considering making a financial gift this season to support environmental classroom education, community cleanups, and recycling resources? There is no better time than #GivingTuesday! #GivingTuesday is a wonderful opportunity to give back to the causes we care about online while sharing the stories of why they matter. Make a difference on Tuesday, November 28th by making a #GivingTuesday contribution to ILACSD. Your gift makes a tremendous difference, no matter the size! And don’t miss the opportunity to share your support on social media with an “UN-selfie.” We want to hear why a healthy environment is important to you so tag @ILoveACleanSD on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and use the hashtags #GivingTuesday and #ILACSD.
Whatever way you choose to celebrate this season, the ILACSD team wishes you a very safe, happy, and clean holiday!
As if spending a morning at the beach while protecting precious marine wildlife and our picturesque coastline wasn’t already reason enough to sign up, this cleanup is taking it to the next level with screening passes to the upcoming Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle! Get access to a sneak peek viewing of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle when you join us for an extra special Movies Over Messes Cleanup on Saturday, December 16th from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM at Mission Bay’s Bonita Cove – 1100 W Mission Bay Drive, San Diego, CA 92107.On top of the preview screening passes, promotional prizes will also be available to the volunteers! Bask in some 90s nostalgia with a fresh spin on an old favorite!
We encourage volunteers to bring their own reusable items such as – water bottles, work gloves, and buckets to promote zero waste practices and help us in our mission to have a zero waste, litter free and environmentally engaged San Diego region!
All volunteers are required to fill out a waiver form to participate and anyone under the age of 18 needs a parent or guardian signature.
In the brand new adventure Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, the tables are turned as four teenagers in detention are sucked into the world of Jumanji. When they discover an old video game console with a game they’ve never heard of, they are immediately thrust into the game’s jungle setting, into the bodies of their avatars, played by Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan. What they discover is that you don’t just play Jumanji – Jumanji plays you. They’ll have to go on the most dangerous adventure of their lives, or they’ll be stuck in the game forever…
CLEANUP HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO WILDFIRES IN THE AREA!
Unfortunately, the Fresh Look for Fallbrook Cleanup has been cancelled due to wildfires in the area. We are sending our thoughts to all of those impacted by the fire. Please stay safe and continue to monitor news and alerts for the latest updates. Thank you for volunteering, and we hope to see you at a future cleanup.
The holiday season moves fast, and it will be the New Year before you know it. When that happens, you’re bound to hear the phrase “New Year, New Me” quite a few times. So we figured why not do the same for our communities? Join us to revitalize Fallbrook and head into the New Year with a Fresh Look for Fallbrook Cleanup on Saturday, December 9th, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Volunteers will meet at 4000 Dulin Road, Fallbrook, CA 92028.
We encourage volunteers to bring their own reusable items such as –water bottles, work gloves, and buckets to promote zero waste practices and help us in our mission to have a zero waste, litter free and environmentally engaged San Diego region!
Take advantage of cooler temperatures and join ILACSD at our “Spring into Action” Spring Valley Community Cleanup on Saturday, December 2nd from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Spring Valley County Park – 8735 Jamacha Blvd, Spring Valley, CA 91977.
We encourage volunteers to bring their own reusable items such as –water bottles, work gloves, and buckets to promote zero waste practices and help us in our mission to have a zero waste, litter free and environmentally engaged San Diego region!
All volunteers are required to fill out a waiver form to participate and anyone under the age of 18 needs a parent or guardian signature.
This year, I Love A Clean San Diego was selected as a recipient of the 2017 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners Grant Program which has provided funds to conserve, protect, and enhance areas in Lemon Grove and Encanto.
The 2017 Keep America Beautiful/Lowe’s Community Partners Grant Program engages local volunteers to take action to benefit their community with projects that focus on critical needs. I Love A Clean San Diego’s grant program has already impacted both Lemon Grove and Encanto by supporting beautification and cleanup events in those communities. One final day of action for Lemon Grove is still to come on November 4th.
Lemon Grove Park volunteers had a blast while giving back in their community!
As a result of this grant program, on September 16th, we were able to expand two of our smaller Coastal Cleanup Day sites into large scale cleanups with additional projects to improve the parks! On this day, we had focused beautification efforts on Encanto Park and Lemon Grove Park. Between the two sites, over 130 volunteers removed 129 pounds of trash and 57 pounds of recycling from the areas. On top of the debris removed, volunteers accomplished impressive feats by removing brush, weeding landscape, planting 90 native plants, spread mulch, painting 9 structures, and removing graffiti.
Even with all the fun, those volunteers completed many beautification projects around the park!
On October 21st, we hosted the third event in Lemon Grove’s Civic Center Park. With a turnout of over 120 individuals, volunteers joined forces to remove litter – collecting 128 pounds of trash and 28 pounds of recycling, as well as some household hazardous waste like batteries and syringes. In addition to the cleanup, volunteers collected an unprecedented amount of cigarette litter from landscaped areas, spread new mulch over approximately 200 square feet of landscape, planted 95 various plants in that space, and painted the exterior of a nearby public restroom. Overall, volunteers made efforts to drastically improve the area surrounding the Lemon Grove Depot station, a landmark of Lemon Grove, and removed over 150 pounds of debris from entering the storm water system and flowing to the Pacific Ocean!
Volunteers completed painting and planting projects at Lemon Grove Park on October 21st!
The work isn’t done just yet! We’ll be in Lemon Grove once again for a final event as a part of this grant program. On Saturday, November 4th, we are slated to complete another cleanup featuring even more beautification projects for Lemon Grove’s Berry Street Park. Volunteers can still register for this event and become a channel for change in their community. So roll up your sleeves, and let’s get to work!
While results continue to trickle in from this year’s Coastal Cleanup Day, one result we can’t overlook is the incredible time that was had by all of our participants! From volunteers picking up litter at the beaches to groups removing graffiti and refurbishing playground equipment, the volunteers expressed the immense joy they took away from the experience! As a direct result of all of that hard work, San Diegans are now able to enjoy more than 100 clean outdoor spaces free of litter!
ILACSD’s Pauline with our sponsors and speakers officially kicking off Coastal Cleanup Day by planting a tree.
For the past 30 years, I Love A Clean San Diego has coordinated Coastal Cleanup Day in San Diego County as part of a statewide and international cleanup effort to restore coastlines across the globe. The effort is coordinated statewide by the California Coastal Commission and internationally by The Ocean Conservancy. While international totals for 2017 are not available yet, in 2016, in 92 countries around the world 504,583 volunteers picked up more than 18 million pounds of trash!
A before and after look at the D Street Fill cleanup site in National City!
ILACSD team members woke up extra early on Saturday morning to lead more than 250 volunteers in beautification projects at Golden Hill Park. Even with volunteers spread out among various beautification projects including mulching, tree planting, mural paints, and storm drain stenciling, they still managed to clear out over 2,500 pounds of debris!
As for the entire county, preliminary totals for Coastal Cleanup Day in San Diego indicate that we had over 7,500 volunteers cleaning up 105 local creeks, canyons, beaches, and bays as part of this event! While the trash totals are still being compiled, we are expecting that more than 150,000 pounds of trash were removed from San Diego County. On top of the trash removal, volunteers also beautified and enhanced the local environment through painting murals, removing invasive plants, planting trees, mulching, and performing a variety of park maintenance projects.
Volunteers painted a mural at the Golden Hill Recreation Center!Volunteers preparing an area to be mulched.
Every year at Coastal Cleanup Day and Creek to Bay, our two annual countywide cleanups, we see that cigarette butts and small plastic items are our most commonly found items. While unfortunately, this information is not that surprising, we are often stunned by some of the unique pieces of litter that our volunteers find. Some of the favorites this year include a dish rack, costume vampire teeth, RV door, an elephant shrine, and a Charger’s jersey.
Volunteers at Spanish Landing found dentures during their cleanup.
Many thanks go out to all that donated their time and effort to volunteer with us on Coastal Cleanup Day. We feel lucky to put on such a beloved event with dedicated and wonderful participants every year! This year, we had individuals, groups, and corporate volunteer teams out all over the county representing various organizations including SDG&E, Wells Fargo, Lincoln Military Housing, Bank of America, San Diego County Water Authority, San Diego Metropolitan Credit Union, Illumina, Evans Hotels, and a large number of scout troops!
Bank of America volunteers winding down after cleaning up the Golden Hill site!
Volunteers from SDG&E excited to clean up at the Scripps Ranch site.
See more pictures from Coastal Cleanup Day and our other cleanups on Facebook and Instagram!
Looking to join us at our next event? We have a quite a few volunteer opportunities coming up. Visit our upcoming events page for more information on how to get involved!
