‘Don’t Trash San Diego,’ Put Litter in Its Place, Project Leaders Urge

For the second year, April has been proclaimed “Don’t Trash San Diego” month throughout the county, with the goal of eliminating 400 tons of litter and recyclable material from San Diego’s beaches, highways, neighborhoods and parks.

About 40 community groups, including more than 2,000 volunteers, are expected to participate.

Last year, 300 tons of litter and recyclable materials were collected. Increased funding this year from the California Department of Conservation’s recycling division will raise the number of recycling sites from 22 to at least 38.

The department’s $23,000 will also help fund more recycling education programs for schools throughout the county, a workshop for waste haulers to develop new recycling projects and collection bins at more supermarkets.

But organizers are hoping that recycling fever will last longer than one month.

“Recycling is not just a once-a-year type of activity,” said Gayle Soroka, president of I Love a Clean San Diego, one of the program’s main sponsors.

A new program to recycle phone books has been added this year and organizers, whose efforts have coincided with Pacific Bell’s distribution of new directories, expect to recycle 100 tons of phone books.

Collection sites for phone books will be set up in downtown San Diego April 5-7, and at several supermarkets April 8. The stores include Alpha Beta, 730 Turquoise St.; Big Bear Market, 7403 Jackson Drive; Mayfair Market, 535 Robinson Ave.; Ralph’s, 3515 Sports Arena Blvd.; and Food Palace, 3550 National Ave.

In addition, other collection sites will be open all month to accept the phone books, which will be shipped overseas and turned into a variety of products including compressed particle board and cardboard, Soroka said.

At a Friday press conference to announce “Don’t Trash San Diego” month, a 6-foot pile of debris collected from San Diego highways--including three mattresses, a chair and a surfboard--was dumped on the steps of the County Administration Building. Caltrans District Director Jesus M. Garcia said the trash had only taken five hours to collect, indicating the extent of the litter problem in San Diego County.

Sponsoring the monthlong campaign are United Publishers Corp., which publishes United Yellow Pages; Western Waste; Carl’s Jr. Restaurants; Wendy’s; Mashburn Sanitation & Container Corp; the city and the county of San Diego; Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego); the California Department of Transportation; the Ecology Centre; San Diego Assn. of Government’s Regional Recycling Strategy Committee; I Love a Clean San Diego and the California Department of Conservation’s Division of Recycling.

At a Friday press conference, a 6-foot pile of debris collected from San Diego highways was dumped on the steps of the County Administration Building.