Join ILACSD as we team up with Kashi to clean up Moonlight Beach in Encinitas on July 13! From 9 am to noon, volunteers will walk the beach, removing litter and debris from our local environment. Afterward, stick around to celebrate with another hour of fun, sun, music, and giveaway prizes! Kashi will have lots of fun freebies and prizes to award for our top trash collectors from the cleanup! Enjoy complimentary cereal, granola bars, protein bars, and some awesome swag!
ILACSD will provide all cleanup supplies. However, volunteers are encouraged to bring any reusable items they have such as water bottles, work gloves, and buckets. Practice zero waste habits and help cut back on the waste produced from single-use plastics at our cleanups by bringing reusable alternatives.
All volunteers must fill out a waiver form to participate and anyone under the age of 18 needs a waiver signed by their parent or guardian.
Save the date for one of our biggest cleanups of the year!
Join us on Saturday, April 27th, as we beautify more than 100 sites in San Diego County for the 17th Annual Creek to Bay Cleanup! Last year, we had 6,464 volunteers came out to our 116 sites and successfully removed 145,622 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.
Contests available this year: Sony Photo Contest, Bling Your Bucket Contest (details to come).
Scout patches will also be available for any participating troops after the event.
Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day by giving back to your community! Join ILACSD, SDG&E, and the Imperial Beach City Council for our Clean Cities Initiative Cleanup on Monday, January 21st from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Volunteers will meet at Rose Teeple Memorial Park located at the intersection of Calla Avenue & Florida Street. We will pick up litter and debris from around the area to preserve and enhance the local community! With the help of over 300 volunteers last year, we removed more than 500 pounds of trash and recyclables from the local environment! Help us increase our impact by volunteering and bringing 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 your 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.
San Diego Gas & Electric has been delivering San Diegans their power for almost 150 years. On top of their work providing around 45% clean energy to homes and businesses in this region – compared to an average of 8% nationwide – SDG&E supports many local nonprofits organizations that are working to improve the environment. This year, SDG&E and the San Diego Padres are Going to Bat for San Diego, and teaming up to support I Love A Clean San Diego and celebrate Coastal Cleanup Day.
ILACSD is proud to be part of the 2018 Going to Bat for San Diego Starting Lineup!
As a special thank you to volunteers that Go to Bat for San Diego, SDG&E and the Padres are recognizing Coastal Cleanup Day participants with a Volunteer Appreciation Night at the Padres game on Monday, September 17. Coastal Cleanup Day volunteers receive a promo code to purchase discounted tickets and be recognized for their accomplishments in keeping San Diego clean.
The 34th annual Coastal Cleanup Day will bring thousands of volunteers together on September 15th to beautify more than 100 beaches, parks, and other outdoor spaces throughout the region. Over the past 17 years, SDG&E has helped support I Love A Clean San Diego’s Coastal Cleanup Day efforts with the participation of thousands of employee volunteers! We are pleased to highlight two SDG&E heavy hitters who have stepped up to the plate to serve as site captains for Coastal Cleanup Day throughout the years.
Crystal Yousef
Crystal and her sidekick, Tipsie, at Coastal Cleanup Day 2013.
Crystal has been an SDG&E employee for 15 years and a Coastal Cleanup Day site captain for close to 10 years. She can always be counted on to go wherever there is a need, and Coastal Cleanup Day has led her on expeditions to Encanto, Poway, Golden Hill, and Rancho Bernardo, among other places.
In her day job, Crystal works at SDG&E’s Environmental Lab, which does environmental sampling and test analyses. The Lab is certified to test for more than 500 chemical compounds, ensuring that SDG&E facilities are operating safely.
In Crystal’s decade of service at Coastal Cleanup Day, she says her favorite part of the annual volunteer event is seeing kids’ enthusiasm when they find a strange piece of trash. Whether it’s a shoe, a stuffed animal, or even a bathroom scale, kids often burst with excitement recounting where and how they found it, and in some instances, even make up stories for what they think the item is. It’s like trash show-and-tell.
Crystal also notes that she feels a sense of pride each year when she arrives at Coastal Cleanup Day to a sea of Team SDG&E volunteers outfitted in team t-shirts, which for many years were the two-toned tie-dye in the photo to the left. SDG&E and I Love A Clean San Diego are lucky to have folks like Crystal committed to ensuring a safe and successful cleanup for volunteers of all ages! This year, you can find Crystal helping out at the South Shores cleanup site in Mission Bay with Team SDG&E.
Hilary Haskell
Hilary participating in the 2016 City Heights Facelift with Team SDG&E.
Hilary has been an environmental enthusiast from a young age. In fact, in high school she conducted regular beach cleanups, and in college she interned with another environmental nonprofit, Orange County Coastkeeper. Fun fact: during Hilary’s internship, she helped to plan Kids’ Ocean Day in Orange County, aerial art and all! That’s the sister event to ILACSD’s San Diego Kids’ Ocean Day that occurs every spring.
Hilary joined SDG&E a little over two years ago and jumped right in with Coastal Cleanup Day. Last year, she led the San Dieguito Lagoon site for SDG&E, and this year you’ll find her at the Paradise Creek site in National City. Aside from having a good attitude and strong leadership qualities, Hilary brings another attribute to her role as site captain…she knows a lot about the environment! At SDG&E, she makes sure projects like the placing of a new power pole, or even the removal of one, don’t result in a detrimental environmental impact. She’s also one of the company’s leading sustainability advisors, helping to track SDG&E’s environmental performance in key areas.
While Hilary hasn’t been a part of Team SDG&E for very long, we anticipate that her involvement in Coastal Cleanup Day will continue for many years to come!
ILACSD is grateful for SDG&E’s longtime partnership and the hands-on role team members take on to make sure we knock Coastal Cleanup Day out of the park!
Join ILACSD as we partner up with Clint August, 101.5 KGB, and San Diego County Toyota Dealers for a public cleanup in Mission Beach on Saturday, July 14 from 9:00 am to 11:00 am! Volunteers will pick up trash around Mission Beach Park located at 3000 Mission Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92109. We will be picking up litter and other debris to divert waste from the Mission Bay/La Jolla watershed and keep our beaches beautiful for the summer! This is a great opportunity for everyone to learn ways to protect our local environment. Look for the orange ILACSD canopy and Rock 101.5 KBG tent in Mission Beach Park.
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. Waivers can be signed the day of the cleanup on site. No registration is required beforehand!
The 34th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day is September 15, 2018!
Join us on Saturday, September 15th from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM as we clean up and beautify over 100 sites throughout San Diego County! At last year’s efforts, with a turnout of 6,686 volunteers at 105 coastal and inland cleanup sites, we successfully removed 128,168 pounds of litter from San Diego County. Our volunteers channeled their appreciation for San Diego’s environment into action to protect it. Join us this year and be a part of this international event!
Registration opens mid-August! For more information, head over to CleanupDay.org
On May 24th, I Love A Clean San Diego celebrated its 20th Kids’ Ocean Day, fostering the next wave of environmentally informed and engaged students. Kids’ Ocean Day is not just an excuse for students to hang out at the beach during the school day. It actually begins weeks before in the schools with ILACSD staff facilitating educational presentations for local elementary school students! These students then join ILACSD and a team of volunteers at the beach for a litter cleanup and the formation of an aerial art piece.
During the assemblies, ILACSD educators teach students about the importance of marine life, how their actions affect the ocean, and how they have the power to protect the health our environment. “It was absolutely fantastic. We had kids eager to go to other beaches to clean them up. I can’t say enough good things about how much the kids loved the assembly,” said one teacher from Los Peñasquitos Elementary. The teacher explained how they loved their students being able to see others come together to make a difference for their community during the beach cleanup. The teacher was thrilled to have their students participate in Kids’ Ocean Day, saying, “Thank you so much for this incredible experience. We can’t thank you enough for this opportunity.”
Over the 20 years that ILACSD has hosted Kids’ Ocean Day, we have engaged 20,816 participants and removed approximately 7,280 lbs. of debris from San Diego’s coastline.
Each year, the five participating California cities determine a statewide-theme for the artwork. The 2018 theme – “Waves of Change” – evokes images of our youngest generations propelling us forward towards a cleaner, safer, and more mindful future. It illustrates how our daily choices, including what we eat, wear, discard, and purchase, have far-reaching effects. This message is broadcast to the world through the art formation. It serves as a call to action for others to join the cause and be mindful of consumption and disposal habits. Check out the video below to see the final aerial art image being formed!
Students collected plastic debris on Mission Beach using re-purposed water jugs!
“Kids’ Ocean Day is my favorite day of the year,” said Emily Nelson, Education Manager at I Love A Clean San Diego. “This entire event, from the assembly to the cleanup and aerial artwork, showcases the power of the individual, no matter their age. I hope each child realizes just how important and powerful they are.”
We would not have been able to make “Waves of Change” without the help of our sponsors, our volunteers, teachers, and students!
Thank you to all of our Kid’s Ocean Day sponsor for investing in a cleaner San Diego!
One of the best ways people choose to spend their holiday weekends is on the beach — especially in sunny San Diego. With Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day coming up, families and friends will flock to the coast to celebrate their long weekends. In response to the influx of locals and tourists, ILACSD and the San Diego Clean Beach Coalition (SDCBC) will place 200 temporary trash and recycling bins along some of the city’s busiest beaches to reduce the amount of beach and marine litter.
A Clean Beach Coalition recycling bins set out for the Fourth of July last summer!
Over the past decade, SDCBC has kept 3.5 million pounds of trash off the beach and out of the ocean. This past year, over 61,000 pounds of debris were collected during the summer holiday weekends. With the support of Think Blue San Diego, PB Shore Club, FreePB, and more, SDCBC aims to educate beachgoers about the benefits of swapping reusable alternatives for single-use products.
How can you make the most out of your holiday weekends while staying sustainable? SDCBC recommends that visitors bring hard plastic coolers, refillable water bottles, and food storage containers to reduce the amount of disposables items brought to the beach. Avoid bringing plastic straws and utensils! And make sure all recyclables are clean, dry, and empty. Spend less time worrying about your waste by visiting our zero waste database, WasteFreeSD.org, for everything you need to know about reusable options!
Summer can stay sustainable by simply packing reusable options when preparing to head to the beach!
In fact, your only worry while basking in the sun at the beach should be when to reapply sunscreen. That is why SDCBC’s goal is to ensure that the safety of the community and the ecosystem is not compromised by the impact of litter. With these easily accessible CBC bins, visitors are able to responsibly throw away and recycle their waste while still enjoying their vacations. Even at the most crowded beaches, people will still be able to enjoy the sun, sand, and the ocean in San Diego!
Not planning to hit the beach for the holidays? No worries! You can still party with a purpose while you celebrate this summer! A picture is all it takes to support ILACSD as the local Keep America Beautiful affiliate. With Absolut Vodka’s new Absolut America campaign, for every photo submitted through the site, $1 will be donated to Keep America Beautiful or another selected charity. After submitting your photo, you can share the decked out picture on social media to show how easy it is to support ILACSD and Keep America Beautiful all summer while you #PartyWithAPurpose with #AbsolutAmerica.
Support Keep America Beautiful and its affiliates by submitting a photo of how you party with a purpose to Absolut America!
With the Clean Beach Coalition and Absolut America, it is simple to #DoBeautifulThings. Just by recognizing the impact that waste has on water ecosystems, San Diegans are better prepared to act wisely when it comes to waste, especially during the summer holidays. For more information about the Clean Beach Coalition, make sure to visit CleanBeachCoalition.org.
Join ILACSD, SDG&E, and the Imperial Beach City Council for our Clean Cities Initiative: Imperial Beach Cleanup on Saturday, May 19, 2018, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM! Last year, over 200 dedicated volunteers joined us and put in the work to restore Imperial Beach for the Clean Cities Initiative, and we are excited to hold another cleanup in this important neighborhood! Volunteers will meet at the corner of 13th Street and Imperial Beach Blvd. and participate in a street sweep along sidewalks in the neighborhood!
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 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.
As summer comes to an end, Labor Day is fast approaching, which means there is one last busy weekend for beach-goers to enjoy some fun in the sun! All of that fun and sun also brings an influx of visitors into San Diego during the holidays, and with all the extra people comes an increased amount of waste that overwhelms our current infrastructure.
Join ILACSD and the Clean Beach Coalition to ensure our beaches stay clean over the long holiday weekends. Help ILACSD assemble temporary trash and recycling bins that will be placed across San Diego beaches and bays to encourage beach-goers to properly dispose of their items throughout the busy Labor Day weekend. Join us in keeping our beaches clean!
Volunteers are required to fill out two waiver forms and anyone under the age of 18 needs both waivers signed by their parent or guardian. For this opportunity, all volunteers must be 16 years of age or over to participate.
If you are interested in participating, please email Natalia at nking@cleanSD.org to sign up!
