While most beach cleanup efforts focus solely on the coast, the Creek to Bay Cleanup doesn’t stop there. I Love A Clean San Diego’s eighth annual cleanup is set to take place Saturday, April 24 from 9 a.m. to noon at dozens of locations around San Diego. “Most of us live in the beach communities because we enjoy the lifestyles and enjoy our beaches,” said Morgan Justice-Black, outreach director for I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD). “While cleaning up what is there on our beaches is important, it’s also important to realize that the debris is originating at some of these inland locations and that’s where the real source of the problem is.” There is one local cleanup site at La Jolla Shores, however, that site draws one of the best crowds in the county. “We’re expecting a pretty big turnout,” Justice-Black said. “It’s usually one of our biggest sites.” Nearly 5,000 volunteers will be scattered across 68 cleanup sites in the county, picking up assorted trash and debris from creeks, canyons and beaches. The Creek to Bay Cleanup will cover an estimated 150 miles of land. “It is three hours of your time that can make a big difference in the health of our community,” Justice-Black said. “Just three hours and you can really notice the difference from when you arrive to when you leave that day.” This year, the Creek to Bay Cleanup will reach an impressive milestone. Since 2001, a total of 992,075 pounds of debris has been collected — which means the mark of 1 million pounds of trash will likely be eclipsed on Saturday. “The most common items that we find are things like cigarette butts, plastic bottles and caps and food wrappers,” Justice-Black said. “So imagine just how many cigarette butts and food wrappers we’re picking up to hit a million pounds.” To volunteer or for more information, visit www.creektobay.org. I Love A Clean San Diego is online at www.ilacsd.org.