Seaside Sustainability: Ditching Disposables

Join ILACSD as we team up with the City of Carlsbad to bring you Seaside Sustainability: Ditching Disposables on Friday, September 28, 2018 from 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM! We are excited to help spread the word about sustainable practices and make it easier for residents to implement these actions in their everyday lives.

At three locations inside The Forum Carlsbad, ILACSD will be talking with community members about minimizing their consumption of single-use plastics, reducing food waste, and building sustainable habits. Stop by one of our three booths to pick up a FREE set of bamboo utensils or a stainless steel straw! If you get hungry while shopping, enjoy a bite to eat at one of the numerous cafes or restaurant throughout the Forum, and put your knowledge into action by utilizing your new reusable utensils!

Come find the ILACSD booth outside of these three locations and grab your reusable bamboo utensils or stainless steel straw at one of the following locations:

Talbot’s   |  1925 Calle Barcelona, Suite 166
Anthropologie  | 1925 Calle Barcelona, Suite 158
Jimbo’s Naturally  |  1923 Calle Barcelona, Suite 149

We hope to see you there!

OURganics: Our Relationship with Food

Join I Love A Clean San Diego and the City of Chula Vista for an organics workshop on Saturday, September 29, 2018 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Memorial Park, adjacent to the Parkway Community Center located at 373 Park Way, Chula Vista, CA 91910. The event is completely FREE and open to the public.

Come by and learn how to keep organics out of the landfill by shopping smart, storing food properly, and composting your scraps. We will also cover water conservation topics, such as ocean-friendly gardens and laundry-to-landscape systems. There will also be hands-on activities and an eco-kids craft corner!

Get registered today! We hope to see you there!

Green Business Solutions Workshop

Green Business Solutions Workshop

Interested in making your business a little greener, but not sure where to start? Have a green team, but hitting a roadblock? No matter where you are on your path to going green, I Love A Clean San Diego and Wells Fargo are here to help!

Join us on Tuesday, August 7, 2018, from 4:30 pm to 7:00 pm for our Green Business Solutions Workshop, an informative evening focused on how to make your business a more eco-conscious establishment! The workshop will be held at the San Diego Foundations Building in the Hoffman Room located at 2508 Historic Decatur Road, San Diego, CA 92106.

Whether you work in an office, a restaurant, or in retail, we will have valuable information for all business models! At this event, we will identify the importance of zero waste practices, teach you how to implement sustainable practices in your business, and discuss the environmental and economic benefits of going green! Hear from peers about their successes and struggles in implementing zero waste at their workplace. This event is open to the public! You can register online or walk in the day of the event.

See you there!
Register today!

How Do Expiration Dates Work?

Today’s blog post was written by High Tech Middle Media Arts 6th grader, Kaiya. Kaiya’s class studied the impact that humans have on our local water resources and their contribution to food waste on a global scale. The students looked into water and food waste issues locally, statewide, nationwide and globally. The class hopes to educate the local community about waste and pollution issues and inspire change.
Photo credits
Illustration by John Wagner

Have you ever wondered how expiration dates work? Wondered how important they are? Well, I certainly did. So to those who still do, let me explain.

Let’s start with a short history lesson. Expiration dates were introduced in 1950 at a store called Marks & Spencers. It wasn’t until 1970 when “Sell By” and “Best By” tags were added to most supermarkets. Now that our history lesson has concluded, let’s get to the interesting stuff!

Expiration dates aren’t supposed to show a fruit’s edibility, but the fruit’s “peak quality”; not when it’s expired. It’s because of this common misconception that people discard perfectly good food! So actually, expiration dates are optional. They are suggestions meant to assist. It’s more important to know your food and to simply throw it out because of the expiration date.

Oftentimes, grocery stores will throw away their produce once it turns brown.

Well, how and why were they made?

Americans discontinued making their food, but still wanted to be informed about how it was made. This caused the creation of expiration dates. The facilities did tests on fruit, seeing how long they usually lasted. The most common result would become its “expiration date.”

We are wasting food.

When shopping for fruits, people are usually attracted to the apple that has the least bruises, causing an unnecessary amount of food waste. The food that’s wasted converts to a brown lump and produces a white puss. That’s mold. Mold should be thrown out, but if it’s just brown, it should be fine. Brown spots on fruit are sugar spots, meaning they amplify the flavor. They are perfectly safe to consume, but if it’s a blob of brown, you should throw it away. These spots are discovered on bananas when they continue to ripen, due to ethylene. Supermarkets tend to throw away brown fruit because it doesn’t sell. Food is wasted for no reason.

As your bananas begin to brown, throw them in your freezer to make smoothies, or use them to make banana bread!

Why do they become brown?

Brown fruit is oxidized fruit, meaning that air made them turn brown. Brown fruit is still edible! Apples turn brown in recently bitten parts. The brown on parts on apples reduce taste, but it can still be consumed.

Is there anything I shouldn’t eat when expired? Yes. Infant formula loses its nutrients passed its expiration date. Expired deli meats give you food poisoning, as well as eggs. Dairy gets bacteria buildup when it expires, so it also shouldn’t be consumed.

What moldy food can I eat?

Cheese increases in value when moldy. It tastes more flavorful, which makes a higher profit when sold. However, only specific types of cheese are edible with mold. Cheddar, Colby, Parmesan, and Swiss should be fine to consume. Other soft cheeses like cottage cheese, cream cheese, and ricotta cheese with mold should be discarded.

About the Author

Kaiya is a 6th grader at HTMMA. Her blog was democratically selected by her peers to be featured on I Love A Clean San Diego’s website. Her work will be exhibited alongside other students at a community beach cleanup coordinated by the HTMMA students. 

Seaside Sustainability: Ditching Disposables

Join ILACSD as we team up with the City of Carlsbad to bring you Seaside Sustainability: Ditching Disposables on Wednesday, June 20th from 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM! We are excited to help spread the word about sustainable practices and make it easy for residents to implement these actions into their everyday lives by providing FREE a reusable 3-in-1 spork and a stainless steel straw! At three locations throughout Carlsbad, ILACSD will be talking with community members about minimizing consumption of single-use plastics, reducing food waste, and building sustainable habits. Communities member will then be able to put that knowledge into action by using the reusable items that will be handed out. Stroll through Carlsbad, enjoy a bite to eat, and take pride in the plastic utensils and straws that won’t end up in a landfill! 

Stop by the ILACSD booth and grab your reusable utensils and straw at one of the following locations:

Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant   |  2968 State Street
Las Olas Mexican Restaurant  |  2939 Carlsbad Blvd
C’Est La Vie  |  2805 Roosevelt Street

We hope to see you there!

Saving Summertime Celebrations from Litter with the Clean Beach Coalition

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 ClubFreePB, 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.

Seaside Sustainability Workshop

Join ILACSD as we team up with the City of Carlsbad to bring you a workshop focused on sustainable living! On Saturday, June 23, 2018, we will be hosting the Seaside Sustainability Workshop from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Dove Library located at 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad, CA92011. The event is completely FREE and open to the public.

Come by and learn how to set yourself up for success in sustainability! Visit educational booths, participate in one of the hands-on activities, and bring in gently used items you were planning to donate and participate in the Swap ‘n’ Shop! Swap ‘n’ Shop participants can exchange or donate those items giving them a second life and keeping them out of the landfill. Make sure to stick around for our raffle where you have the opportunity to win sustainable prizes that will help with your eco-friendly journey!

Get registered today to reserve your spot! We hope to see you there!

Clean Beach Coalition Bin Assembly for Labor Day

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!

Clean Beach Coalition Bin Assembly for 4th of July

It’s summer in San Diego, and that means basking in the sun on our beaches and bays to celebrate 4th of July! 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 4th of July 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!

Clean Beach Coalition Bin Assembly for Memorial Day

Spring is in full swing! In San Diego, that means basking in the sun on our beaches and bays to celebrate Memorial Day! All of that fun and sun can also bring an increased amount of trash to our beautiful city. 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 Memorial Day weekend. Join us in keeping our beaches clean!

All of our 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!