SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023

why-image
Help us celebrate Earth Day by joining the largest environmental cleanup in San Diego County during Earth Week!

Registration Opens April 1, 2023

Register to lead a cleanup site by March 22, 2023

Event Details:
Saturday, April 22, 2023

Who: A family-friendly event. Join some 4,000 volunteers from many locations around San Diego County.

What: The largest cleanup in San Diego County on Earth Day.

Where: Cleanup sites around San Diego County. Site locations coming soon!

About Creek to Bay

Founded in 2002 by I Love A Clean San Diego, the Creek to Bay Cleanup shares the honor with Coastal Cleanup Day as one of the largest single-day environmental action events in San Diego County.

Why Volunteer?

80% of all coastal pollution begins inland

By 2050, there could be more plastic than fish by weight in the world’s oceans if we don’t defend our waterways from litter

Because we LOVE where we live

 

Get Involved

Anyone can do it! Volunteer as an individual, with friends and family or as a corporate team. Register to lead a cleanup site by March 22.

Volunteer

Partners

Scout Troop Patches

Partnership Opportunities

If you would like to join the community of businesses that support this event, please contact Steve Morris at smorris@cleansd.org.

Presenting

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Support from local jurisdictions

FAQs

There are many ways to support the efforts of Creek to Bay with I Love A Clean San Diego:
  • Volunteering on the day – choose from any of the cleanup sites around the county
  • Volunteering to be a site captain and lead the cleanup yourself for members of the public
  • Donating – financial support or giveaways/supplies for our volunteers
  • Sponsoring the event
  • Promoting the event and spreading the message
Creek to Bay will have cleanup sites throughout San Diego County. Site map and registration opens on April 1. Once posted you select to volunteer for a site of your choosing through our Community Hub portal.
Creek to Bay is a countywide cleanup effort that encompasses around 100 different sites throughout San Diego County – each one lead by a site captain for the public. As a site captain, you will lead your site on the day of the event. I Love A Clean San Diego provides the supplies, additional outreach, website coordination for volunteer registration, and hauling for the trash and debris collected (if necessary). Before the event, site captains are responsible for picking up the supplies from our office. Site captains are asked to scout their location and choose where the meeting location is within I Love A Clean San Diego’s deadlines. On the day of the event, site captains collect waivers from volunteers, pass out supplies, give an informational/safety talk and then keep a record of the trash & debris totals to report back to us by 1pm the day of the event. Any extra supplies will just be drop in front of the office anytime. If you are interested in being a site captain please email Kristin (kbanks@cleansd.org) before March 22.
Volunteers should wear closed toed shoes, have some form of sun protection (hat and/or sunscreen) as well as bring a water bottle or two! Volunteers in canyon locations with exposure to poison oak should wear light weight long pants and long sleeves for protection. Site captains will have gloves and trash bags on site for all registered volunteers but if you would like to be zero waste champions we would recommend bring reusable garden gloves and a bucket.
We encourage you to print, review and sign the waiver of liability and turn it in to the site captain on the day. This makes the check-in process go quicker! However it is not required to have beforehand, there will be hard copy waivers on the day for you to sign if you don’t have a printer or forgot! Everyone under 18 will need a parent or legal guardian to sign the waiver for them, this can be done in advance by printing at home or on the day of the event.
Our site map (which is posted April 1 with registration opening) shows all the locations we are hosting for the event. It is broken down into sections to help make it easier to search an area you would like to volunteer in. Furthermore each site is listed with the name of the city it is located in first, to help volunteers better understand the location at a glance. Typically coastal sites tend to have less need, this is because these locations are the most popular to support. A week before the event, sites that are in need of more volunteer help will be listed as a “hot opportunity” and can be filtered for in the search categories of the Community Hub portal. However every single site would benefit from litter collection, even the smallest pieces can pollute and destroy the ecosystems around them.
Registration opens April 1, this is when you will be able to see all the site options. To register you must create an account on our Community Hub. From there you can pick any location you would like and register as an individual or for a whole group when you click the blue sign up button on the specific location’s webpage. Here are the step by step instructions for registering a group:
  • Select “Group” when you click the blue sign up button on your specific location’s webpage.
  • In the pop up box type under the instructions select the group you want to register by their name.
  • Next put your group size (including yourself).
  • In Step 3 if the information looks good select “Reserve and Invite”.
  • The URL link should be shared with all the members of your group that you just registered for that event (send it over email or Facebook message). If you get emailed any more information about the event it is your responsibility to forward that information to your group members.
  • If more or less of your group members will be coming to the event you can adjust the numbers by going back to the “Dashboard” page and scrolling down to your “Upcoming Schedule”.
  • Find the event you want to adjust and click on the “Change Group Info” link to prompt the original pop up box to appear. Change the information you need to by clicking through the steps and adjusting the values you put in originally. You can also remove your group and yourself if needed.
This event does qualify for community service hours and court ordered hours at all the designated cleanup locations. In order to receive volunteer hours, service forms and Letter of Appreciation, volunteer will need to be:
  • Registered for the event through I Love A Clean San Diego’s Community Hub.
  • Participate in the cleanup
  • Capture a photo of your active participation in the cleanup
  • Log your hours and complete the logbook survey post cleanup through your profile on Community Hub (this is where you can request a Letter of Appreciation)
  • Site captains will also have a hard copy available on site upon request.
Any age is welcome to join! Only persons over the age of 13 can make an account but anyone with an account can register a group. Some locations are not kid friendly and have been noted on the location’s specific webpage. Please read the webpage closely to make sure it is a good fit for your family.
I Love A Clean San Diego is proud to offer scout troops and interested volunteers a commemorative patch to recognize your volunteerism and participation. Patches are available by request while supplies last after the cleanup. Volunteers will have to log their hours on the online portal to be eligible and a donation of a couple of dollars is encouraged so we can keep the patch program going for future events. Volunteers will be able to request a patch after the event is completed through our Patch Request Form link which will be posted in May.
Have additional questions? Contact our Community Engagement department staff.