I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD) announced that last Saturday’s Creek to Bay Cleanup brought out 4,000 volunteers who removed approximately 75 tons of garbage and recyclables at more than 55 coastal and inland sites.
The cleanup is designed to raise awareness about the negative health effects litter has on humans and wildlife when debris flows from local waterways on to San Diego’s beaches and into the ocean.
Morgan Justice-Black, event coordinator for ILACSD, said that approximately 20,000 pounds of garbage from removed from its Central San Diego sites, which include Pacific Beach,
Mission Beach, Mission Bay, La Jolla Shores, Tourmaline, Dog Beach and the San Diego River. Much of the garbage consisted of cigarette butts and fast food wrappers.
The cleanup includes a “Most Unique Item” contest.
“Someone found a blender, a velvet tuxedo and half of a $3,000 check,” Justice-Black said.
At the Rose Creek cleanup sites at Santa Fe Street and near Mission Bay High, a crew of 21 volunteers, half of them middle school and high school students, removed about 3,500 pounds of waste and 30 pounds of recyclables.
The Dog Beach cleanup site saw a reduction in the amount of litter and waste removed this year.
“It took 61 people three hours to clean up 115 pounds [of trash],” said Jane Donley, site coordinator and owner of Dog Beach Dog Wash. “That’s 43 percent less [waste] than last year.”