The Haskell's trash-collection team shows off their bounty.
The Haskell's trash-collection team shows off their bounty. Credit: Courtesy photo

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 Sept. 23.

A volunteer and Ellwood site captain Al Souma weigh a piece of trash collected.
A volunteer, right, weighs trash collected with Ellwood site captain Al Souma. Credit: Courtesy photo

About 70 volunteers spent their morning picking up trash at one of three sites in Goleta, and 48 vehicles dropped off bulky items. Among all 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.

“It is always so fulfilling to see first-hand how much people care about preventing trash from polluting our beaches and creeks,” said Dan Rowell, Goleta Environmental Services specialist.

“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,” he said.

Following 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 lbs. of Trash Collected
269.5 lbs. of Recyclables Collected
5 lbs. of Electronic Waste Collected

San Jose Creek (led by site captain Brian Trautwein with the Environmental Defense Center

22 Volunteers

1,016 lbs. of Trash Collected

586 lbs. of Recyclables Collected

60.6 lbs. of Electronic Waste Collected

Ellwood Bluffs and Beach (led by site captain and Goleta resident Al Souma)
6 Volunteers
26 lbs. of Trash Collected
2 lbs. of Recyclables Collected
5 lbs. 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

Goleta offers its thanks to Explore Ecology for coordinating Coastal Cleanup Day across Santa Barbara County; to all the volunteers, and to its partners at MarBorg Industries and Big Green Cleaning .

Learn about other events happening during Creek Week, Sept. 23-30, at www.SBCreekWeek.com and on the city’s website.

Find out how to participate by watching this video highlighting Creek Week activities in Goleta.