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
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.

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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
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.

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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.

picture 6

 

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.

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Here I am at the Olivenhain Reservoir

 

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

Here I am at Stone.
Here I am at Stone.

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
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!

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 15th! This year marks the 7th 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 15th, 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!

 

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.  Bethany_cropped

 

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
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!
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.

And the Award Goes to…

As I Love A Clean San Diego celebrates its 60th year, we are prompted top look back on our history and the people that carried us to success. The strength of our organization today is due to the efforts of many individuals, corporations and government entities who believed in a Clean San Diego!

Below are the 60th Anniversary Clean San Diego honorees, award winners and finalists, who were honored at our 60th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday May 29th.

ILACSD AMBASSADOR AWARD

Former staff and board members that continued their involvement. These alumni represent ILACSD in the community and help to spread the word about the importance of ILACSD’s work.

Cynthia Mallett: Cynthia started at ILACSD fresh out of college, first as an intern then as staff member on the education team, and now at the City of Oceanside’s Clean Water Program. She has stayed connected as a donor, program partner, and volunteer ever since, leading Oceanside beaches and creeks as a site captain for Creek to Bay and Coastal Cleanup Day for over 20 years. Cynthia also championed the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program for the City of Oceanside in collaboration with ILACSD.

Finalists: Joyce Coffee, Lana Findlay

LIFETIME VOLUNTEER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Long-standing volunteers that have served in a leadership position for over a decade, acting as a community catalyst who has taken ownership of an outdoor area in San Diego County and invested time and energy to protect and enhance it with ILACSD.

Linda Pennington: Linda has been volunteering with ILACSD for several decades, inspiring community volunteerism and pride in her City Heights neighborhood. Linda recruits site captains and volunteers by inspiring others to take ownership of their local canyons. She has helped to enlist dozens of Creek to Bay and Coastal Cleanup Day site captains for this underserved area.

Finalists: Jane Donley, Barbara Cleves

CLEAN SAN DIEGO HONOREES

These honorees lead by example through environmental innovation that promotes ILACSD’s mission and benefits the region.

San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox: Supervisor Cox has been a dedicated supporter of ILACSD for more than 15 years. He was recently appointed as a commissioner on the California Coastal Commission, whose Public Education programs include ILACSD’s annual Coastal Cleanup Day, Kids’ Ocean Day and the year-round Adopt-A-Beach program.

County of San Diego: The County Board of Supervisors was instrumental in the formation of the War Against Litter Committee in 1954, which later evolved into I Love A Clean San Diego. Currently, the County of San Diego funds ILACSD programs, including WasteFreeSD.org and the organizations recycling call center, 1-877-R-1-EARTH.

City of San Diego: The City of San Diego was also instrumental in the formation of the War Against Litter Committee in 1954, which evolved into ILACSD.  The City and ILACSD have collaborated for decades and currently partner on High School environmental education, community outreach, cleanups, and pollution prevention campaigns.

City of Chula Vista: The City of Chula Vista has worked with ILACSD on multiple programs since 1999, including cleanups, education, used motor oil recycling, and after school programs. Chula Vista and ILACSD have collaborated on progressive environmental programming & lead regional initiatives encouraging collaboration with other San Diego cities.

EMPLOYEE VOLUNTEERISM AWARDS

Local companies with strong employee volunteer engagement. Winners and finalists were chosen in 3 groups based on employee presence in San Diego. 

D-Max Engineering: D-Max Engineering has collaborated with ILACSD for a decade, through its Storm Drain Stenciling program, and countywide cleanup events Creek to Bay and Coastal Cleanup Day. D-Max Engineering employees participate in countywide events annually, and also lead as site captains at underserved locations.

Finalists: RECON Environmental, McKenna Long & Aldridge

Harrah’s Resort Southern California: Employees from Harrah’s Resort have participated in our Adopt-A-Beach program at Bucanneer Beach in Oceanside for more than 5 years. Additionally, they have served as site captains of both their Bucanneer Beach location and a handful of inland sites, including Dixon Lake and Lake Wohlford for Creek to Bay and Coastal Cleanup Day.

Finalists: Cubic, Recreational Equipment Inc (REI)

General Dynamics, NASSCO: NASSCO employees have volunteered with ILACSD since the 1970’s, serving as one of the organization’s longest standing partners. Volunteers from NASSCO host clean ups along Chollas Creek annually, emphasizing the importance of cleaning up locally by literally cleaning up their own backyard, as Chollas Creek empties into the San Diego Bay near their shipyard.

Finalists: San Diego Gas & Electric, Qualcomm

OUTSTANDING CORPORATE PARTNER AWARD

Corporate partnership with long-term collaborations through volunteerism and program support.

San Diego Gas & Electric: SDG&E has supported ILACSD’s education and cleanups programs for decades. Employees also lead beautification projects during Coastal Cleanup Day, and represent the largest volunteer group countywide.

Finalists: Republic Services, SeaWorld San Diego

CLEAN SAN DIEGO ALLY AWARD

Fellow nonprofit organizations with longstanding partnerships with ILACSD and a history of strong collaboration.

Girl Scouts San Diego: The Girl Scouts have partnered with ILACSD since the 1960’s, providing scouts to spread awareness of pollution prevention issues.  Thousands of scouts participate in ILACSD cleanup programs annually including Creek to Bay, Coastal Cleanup Day, and Adopt A Beach, earning patches for their service. ILACSD was proud to be a signature partner as the Girl Scouts celebrated their 100th anniversary recently.

YOUTH LEADERSHIP AWARD

Young environmental steward who is involved with ILACSD through various community leadership activities.

Aubrey Arevalo: Aubrey is a member of the Think Blue Brigade, and has worked to establish an environmental club at her University City High School campus. Through the Brigade, Aubrey has participated in numerous environmental events including Storm Drain Stenciling Day and Creek to Bay, recruiting classmates to participate. She has also created and led two storm drain stenciling days on her campus, and served as a Creek to Bay site captain at Crown Point Shores.

 

 

 

 

Plastic Bags. Are they recyclable?

Our Hotline Assistant Barbara Lopez breaks down plastic bag recycling. BLopez_team

Did you know that San Diego uses 500 million plastic bags every year? And what’s even more shocking…less than 3% of plastic bags are recycled in California. While there are lots of discussions regarding plastic bag bans and ordinances, until we can cut down on our plastic bag usage, let’s talk more about recycling them!

Plastic bag usage

Some background about bans:

There has been much debate recently, both locally and at the state level, regarding plastic bag bans. At the state level, State Senator Alex Padilla is looking to reintroduce legislation that would keep grocery stores and pharmacies from providing customers with single-use plastic bags by July 1, 2015. If this legislation passes, it would make California the first state in the country to ban plastic bags. Locally, San Diego City Council is also looking to vote on a citywide single use plastic bag ordinance later this year. Supporters of such bills argue too many plastic bags end up as litter or take up space in landfills since few of them are recycled. Of the 14 billion plastic bags that Californians use per year, very few of those are actually recycled. Instead, they end up in landfills or as litter on the side of roads and on beaches! But that isn’t to say that there is no market out there for plastic bags.

The skinny on recycling plastic bags:

Many of you may already know that plastic bags do not belong in our curbside recycling. However, we are often asked why we can’t simply put plastic bags in our bins at home. The answer: recycling facilities are set up to separate rigid plastics from other recyclables- paper, aluminum cans, and glass. Current recycling machinery is just not set up to sort plastic bags and film; they would just get tangled in the equipment.

Although plastic bags cannot be placed in curbside recycling bins, they can be recycled. Many grocery stores collect plastic bags, usually placing bins near the front entrance of the store. In fact, many of these stores also take other types of plastic film, such as produce bags and plastic packaging film. Returned plastic bags are then sent to a recycling processor and are turned into different plastic products such as composite lumber, pallets, crates, and pipes.

plastic_bag_bins

If you need help finding a location to take your plastic bags, check out our handy recycling database, www.WasteFreeSD.org!

plastic_film_flyer

Breaking Down a Breezy Creek to Bay Cleanup!

Today’s blog post comes from our Community Events Coordinator, Lexi Ambrogi, who is one of only 2 people who fearlessly and tirelessly planned this year’s Creek to Bay Cleanup!S

 

As the numbers and results trickle into our office, we’re growing more and more confident of one thing: our 12th Annual Creek to Bay Cleanup was a success!

Flash back to 5AM Saturday morning. Our staff members’ alarms were all set to right around this time, and I’m betting that they looked out their windows and thought what I did: that wind! That rain! How is it possibly this loud outside right now?

But fortunately for us, the weather actually improved throughout the morning, and by the time volunteers started reporting to our record 96 cleanup sites throughout San Diego County, it was almost pleasant outside.

While the threat of rain may have kept a handful of volunteers in bed that morning, preliminary totals indicate that we had more than 5,000 people cleaning up their local creeks, beaches and bays as part of this event! And while the trash totals are still being compiled, we’re expecting that these volunteers removed roughly 150,000 pounds of litter and debris from their communities.

Two volunteers pulled this tractor tire out of Chollas Creek, though maybe with a little help…
Two volunteers pulled this tractor tire out of Chollas Creek, though maybe with a little help…

Every year at this event—and Coastal Cleanup Day in September—we look forward to hearing about the interesting and bizarre things that our volunteers find tucked away in canyons, riverbeds and trails. Some of my favorites this year include a cast iron bathtub (Alpine), a teddy bear scientist (Golden Hill), a 6-foot stuffed bear (City Heights), and a 5-pound bag of raw chicken wings (City Heights).

Despite the smoking ban at San Diego County beaches, volunteers are reporting that cigarette butts were once again the most commonly found item at their cleanup sites. With the help of initiatives like our Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, we’re hoping that we’ll see fewer butts on the ground and more in the trash can where they belong. Thanks to all of our Creek to Bay Cleanup sponsors who help make this event possible each year!

A family with the Bank of America volunteer team at Memorial Community Park works together to clean up Logan Heights.
A family with the Bank of America volunteer team at Memorial Community Park works together to clean up Logan Heights.

Looking to join us at our next event? We have a bunch of cleanups coming up in May and June. Click here for more information on how to get involved!

 

Volunteers at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach relax after a morning of hard work. Way to go with those reusable buckets, guys!
Volunteers at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach relax after a morning of hard work. Way to go with those reusable buckets, guys!

What’s What at the 2014 Creek to Bay Cleanup

Amy Millard-105_croppedToday’s post comes from I Love A Clean San Diego’s Director of Development & Marketing, Morgan Justice-Black, who will be attending her 8th Creek to Bay Cleanup on April 26, 2014! 

 

I remember my first Creek to Bay Cleanup, it was April 28th, 2007. We hosted our kick off site at Belmont Park in Mission Beach, and it was freezing! But, we still managed to bring out more than 200 volunteers at that site, and just over 3,000 volunteers countywide.

Coldest Creek to Bay Cleanup in memory!
Coldest Creek to Bay Cleanup in memory!

Fast forward to today and we are recruiting an impressive 6,000 volunteers each year, double that of just 7 years prior. A lot has changed about Creek to Bay over the year’s, but the constant has been the heart of San Diego residents who come out to lend a hand, despite rain or record high temperatures!

 

In just a few short weeks, I Love A Clean San Diego will be hosting its 12th Annual Creek to Bay Cleanup. Here’s a cheat sheet of what you’re in store for you if you volunteer on April 26th at Creek to Bay. A few things that we have planned for this year’s cleanup include:

 

1. Currently there are 95 cleanup sites available for volunteers to participate in. This is more than ever before! Cleanup sites stretch from Oceanside to Imperial Beach and all the way out to Alpine! We’ve also got a number of incredible site captains who are leading these cleanup sites. Learn more about some of them as we feature them in upcoming blog posts. See them all online at www.CreektoBay.org

 

2. We are offering Scout patches for Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops who volunteer. Have you seen this year’s patch design? Here it is! Once the cleanup concludes, participants can go back onto our website, www.CreektoBay.org and request their patches.

c2b14_patch

 

3. The Bring Your Own Reusables campaign is back in full force, meaning that we want all of our volunteers to bring a few things to help reduce our waste at the cleanup. Please remember to bring: a plastic bucket or other container to collect trash in, work gloves or gardening gloves, and a canteen for refilling with water at the event. You may have heard that our Bring Your Own Reusables campaign, which we fondly refer to as “BYO”, received national recognition by Keep America Beautiful this winter. In case you need a visual reminder, here is what to bring:

Bring Your Own
Bring Your Own bucket, work gloves and reusable water bottle to Creek to Bay!
Here we are, accepting the Innovation Award from Keep America Beautiful!
Here we are, accepting the Innovation Award from Keep America Beautiful!

 

4. Our generous friends at Sony Electronics are once again sponsoring our Creek to Bay Photo Contest! This year’s theme…Be The Change! We are asking folks to snap a photo of themselves or their volunteer group changing our environment for the better at Creek to Bay. More information about the contest and submission guidelines are on our Creek to Bay contest page.

Here's last year's photo contest winner, Evan!
Here’s last year’s photo contest winner, Evan!

 

5. Just a month after our Creek to Bay Cleanup, volunteers will have the opportunity to get together and share stories about the weirdest items they found at our 60th Anniversary Celebration Event. Join us on May 29th from 6:30 – 9pm at SeaWorld for what is bound to be a great time! More information is on our website too!

ILACSD_60_SavetheDate

 

Can’t wait to see all of you out there on April 26th for another fabulous Creek to Bay Cleanup. And here’s to hoping that this year’s weather is a little warmer than 2007, but not as warm as 2008!

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.

Just check the box!!
Just check the box!!

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.
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!

The Totals are In! 2013 By The Numbers…

Today’s post comes from I Love A Clean San Diego’s Director of Development & Marketing, Morgan Justice-Black, who thinks that annual program totals are pretty much the cats pajamas!HPIM1703_cropped

As someone who spends most of my days fundraising, there is no more exciting time of the year than the end of the year. Seeing those last few donations come in before the new year rolls around and crossing my fingers that we meet our projected revenue goals has become an annual tradition for me. But I also love the end of the year for another reason…the opportunity to compile our program totals for the year!

My coworkers run their programs pretty much up until the last week of the year. This year, we had two cleanups in December, as well as education presentations in schools through December 19th! Shout out to Mission Estancia Elementary in Carlsbad for being our last presentations of 2013! Naturally, the holiday “break” was spent doing some serious math, adding up the total number of volunteers we mobilized, the number of education sessions that we hosted, and much more.

Well, I’m happy to report that the results are in! And once again, I’m in awe of how much an organization of just 12 staff can get done!

COMMUNITY EVENTS:

30,510 volunteers

440,953 pounds of debris collected

79,689 cigarette butts

5,334 straws

and a whole lot more!

EDUCATION:

28,220 youth educated

600 environmental education presentations

RECYCLING:

15,555 requests for recycling information

1 brand new repair database, www.RepairSD.org

All in all, 2013 was a great year for I Love A Clean San Diego. But I’m confident that 2014 will be even better. Why? Because we are turning 60! Not me personally of course, but I Love A Clean San Diego! Since 1954, we’ve been working to prevent pollution in San Diego County, giving us a BIG reason to celebrate! So stay tuned for how we are going to make 2014 a year to remember. Oh, and if you didn’t get your donation in before the end of the year, our mailbox is always open 😉

Community-Events-Display-Board-less_text

Happy New Year from I Love A Clean SD!

If you are reading this message, then you have had a hand in helping I Love A Clean San Diego thrive in 2013. Whether through volunteering at a cleanup, approaching our table at a community event, or providing a financial donation, more than 100,000 San Diegans have made some sort of commitment to keeping San Diego clean this year! And for that, we are truly thankful.

As we look toward 2014…just a couple days away…we are all very excited to celebrate the 60th anniversary of an organization that has reinvented itself so many times to continue to stay current amidst all sorts of environmental challenges. Next week, we will recap all of our 2013 accomplishments, as well as give a sneak peak of some of our plans to celebrate the big 6-0!

In the meantime, all of us at I Love A Clean San Diego wish you and your families a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Staff_pic_BW
Happy New Year from the ILACSD team
top row L-R: Erika Bjorkquist, Monica Rosquillas, Natalie Roberts
middle row L-R: Ann Hirsch, Amanda Sweet, Pauline Martinson, Samantha Quinsey
bottom row L-R: Barbara Lopez, Anna Fadem, Lexi Ambrogi, Brittany Fischer, Morgan Justice-Black