2008-2009: A Campaign of Actions

Our third year general awareness campaign is focused on “actions”. They are simple actions that people can take to help reduce litter in Long Beach.

1) Reduce: Coffee and tea cups frequently become litter. It’s easy to bring your own travel mug to your favorite coffee house to have it filled. This reduces debris that can become litter and preserves landfill space.

2) Reuse: Have you seen plastic bags floating around on our streets? Using reusable bags helps to reduce litter, preserve landfill space and causes less C0₂ emissions than disposable bag production and shipping.

3) Recycle: Another obvious solution is to recycle more! Long Beach accepts all plastic containers that have a #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 on the bottom. Download a list of recyclables accepted by the City’s residential recycling program.

2007-2008: A Campaign of Places

Our second year general awareness campaign focused on “places”. Long Beach is a large City with many different kinds of areas that are affected by litter.

1) Our Beaches: Storm drains exist on most streets. They lead to an underground system of tunnels that ends at our ocean. This system was built to prevent flooding during rainfall. Unfortunately, litter is often washed into this system, along with rain or urban runoff. Consequently, our beaches are the recipients of this litter. The City has implemented a “catch system” for a few drains at great expense. A less expensive solution is to prevent litter from entering the system in the first place.

2) Our Wetlands: The most valuable wetlands are those that link ecosystems between fresh and salt waters, supporting species found nowhere else. Our local Los Cerritos wetland is the largest salt marsh and only restorable estuary in Los Angeles County. Healthy wetlands act as bio-filters protecting the quality of water, reducing toxins from transported sediments and serving as a refuge to migratory wildlife. Litter can have a negative impact on the restorability and functionality of our local wetlands.

3) Our Parks: Long Beach has a vast network of parks and public open spaces for the community to enjoy. Remember to properly dispose of your trash when enjoying your local park. Litter can harm young children, family pets and wildlife. Litter also affects a neighborhoods appeal, safety, and home values.

2006-2007: A Campaign of People

Our first general-awareness campaign focused on people. Long Beach is the most ethnically diverse, large city in the United States. This campaign, “ Long Beach: We like it litter-free”, reflects the diverse population of Long Beach inspiring a sense of pride and ownership in all Long Beach communities.

1) Multi-lingual: 46% of residents speak a language other than English at home. Our Asian community includes the second-largest Cambodian community outside of Asia.

2) Age Diversity: Our outreach included litter-free boulevard banners placed around local high-schools ensuring high visibility of the litter-free message by our teen students.

3) Families: 60% of households in Long Beach are catagorized as family households. The influence of family members is strong. Our first campaign put a special emphasis on families and the importance of an early-awareness of litter issues and community involvement.