Coastal Clean Up

The San Marcos community came together on Saturday, Sept. 15 for San Diego’s annual Coastal Cleanup Day.

Volunteers helped clean a vacant parcel of land along San Marcos Boulevard. Over 70 participants showed up with their own reusable water bottles, work gloves, buckets and bags to brave the end-of-summer heat and help clean the greater San Marcos area. Those who did not bring their own supplies were provided with them.

San Marcos wasn’t the only city to participate in the event, but 108 other San Diego county communities came out to help advocate for a sustainable coastal and inland environment.

According to Coastal Cleanup Day’s website, over 7,000 participants across the 108 clean up sites collected over 130,000 pounds of debris overall.

Everyone was asked to keep track of the trash they collected using data sheets provided by the ILACSD (I Love a Clean San Diego). From plastic cups to glass to cigarette butts, all garbage was to be picked up and documented.

Vegetal debris were also removed making the area less prone to wildfires. There were dumpsters on site to isolate and remove collected rubbish.

The event didn’t only consist of cleaning however, there were also drawings and contests held such as the “Bling Your Bucket Contest” and the “Costal Cleanup Day Sony Contest”. The winners received a variety of prizes and even the chance to win a Sony Cybershot Camera.

With a hundred plus sites across San Diego County, it should be easy for anyone who wishes to volunteer at next year’s event to find a site them. You can visit http://cleanupday.org/ to locate a site near you and to stay updated on when the next cleanup day is!

You can also visit https://www.ilacsd.org/ for information on how to volunteer and participate in other events hosted by ILACSD.