More than five tons of trash no longer has a chance to pollute Goleta waterways thanks to everyone who participated in Coastal Cleanup Day and the Beautify Goleta Bulky Item Drop-Off event on September 23. Approximately 70 volunteers spent their morning picking up trash at one of three locations in Goleta and 48 vehicles dropped off bulky items. Between all of the locations, more than 10,300 pounds of trash was collected. Thanks to the higher number of bulky items, this beats last year’s amount of 10,182 pounds.

City of Goleta Environmental Services Specialist Dan Rowell said, “It is always so fulfilling to see first-hand how much people care about preventing trash from polluting our beaches and creeks. What we found this year is that a lot of the volunteers pick up trash regularly on walks around their neighborhoods, or while walking their dogs at parks and beaches.”

Here is a breakdown from each Goleta location:

• Haskell’s Beach (led by site captains Lyn Moore and Eddie Oros with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP)
  • 42 Volunteers
  • 103.5 pounds of Trash Collected
  • 269.5 pounds of Recyclables Collected
  • 5 pounds of Electronic Waste Collected
    
    
• San Jose Creek (led by site captain Brian Trautwein with the Environmental Defense Center)
  • 22 Volunteers
  • 1,016 pounds of Trash Collected
  • 586 pounds of Recyclables Collected
  • 60.6 pounds of Electronic Waste Collected
    
    
• Ellwood Bluffs and Beach (led by site captain and Goleta resident Al Souma)
  • 6 Volunteers
  • 26 pounds of Trash Collected
  • 2 pounds of Recyclables Collected
  • 5 pounds of Electronic Waste Collected
    
    
• Bulky Item Drop-Off event at Phelps Road and Cannon Green Drive
  • 48 vehicle drop-offs
  • 8,320 pounds of Bulky Items Collected

Thank you to Explore Ecology for coordinating Coastal Cleanup Day across Santa Barbara County and to all of those who volunteered. We are also very thankful for our partners at MarBorg Industries and Big Green Cleaning for their ongoing support.

Coastal Cleanup Day is part of Creek Week, an annual celebration of our creeks, watersheds, and the ocean, with events to help build awareness and stewardship of the natural treasures of Goleta, Santa Barbara, and Carpinteria.

Pictured above: San Jose Creek volunteers keeping trash from polluting our creeks.

Volunteers with Haskell’s Beach site captain Lyn Moore and Eddie Oros with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP.

Volunteer Melody weighs trash collected with Ellwood site captain Al Souma.


San Jose Creek volunteers keeping trash from polluting our creeks.

Haskell’s volunteers keeping our beaches clean.

Happy residents dropping off bulky items.