With tools in hand and enthusiasm radiating, more than 150 Team Sempra/SDG&E volunteers beautified and restored San Diego County this past Saturday as part of I Love A Clean San Diego’s 37th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day.
Every year, at least 8 million tons of plastic spills into our oceans – a number equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. This is part of the reason why the local environmental nonprofit organization, I Love A Clean San Diego, has been organizing a countywide Coastal Cleanup Day event for over three decades.
Since Coastal Cleanup Day’s inception, thousands of volunteers have come together and removed more than 5.4 million pounds of litter and debris from the region. This Coastal Cleanup Day, our company proudly took part in volunteer efforts for the 20th consecutive year. Among a sea of volunteers cleaning the region’s waterways, Team Sempra | SDG&E joined forces with local nonprofit partners to support six different cleanup sites. In addition to picking up litter, volunteers removed invasive species with the Escondido Creek Conservancy, spread mulch over large garden bed areas with Paradise Gardeners in southeast San Diego and San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy in Del Mar, and planted native shrubs in National City at Paradise Creek Park. In addition to gathering in small groups at these cleanup sites, our employees and their families also arranged their own “close to home” cleanups in their neighborhoods.
Local volunteerism, international impact
Coastal Cleanup Day is not just a local effort. It’s both a statewide and an international effort. In recent years, it’s been estimated that one million volunteers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries participated, according to the Ocean Conservancy who organizes the International Coastal Cleanup.
Get involved today for tomorrow
Learn more about I Love A Clean San Diego and join an upcoming cleanup event to help keep San Diego beautiful for generations to come. I Love A Clean San Diego coordinates two countywide cleanups each year – Coastal Cleanup Day in September and Creek to Bay Cleanup in April – as well as several community-based cleanup events each month.
Through the Environmental All-Stars program, SDG&E employees regularly volunteer their time for a variety of projects in the community, ranging from building school gardens and installing solar panels for low-income residents to restoring habitats for endangered species.
Despite COVID-19, Team SDG&E has continued to operate community volunteer events at a smaller scale and with increased safety guidance throughout the pandemic. Recent projects include partnerships with San Diego River Park Foundation, Olivewood Gardens, Coastal Roots Farm, and many more.