From the towering redwood forests to shorelines teeming with wildlife, our beloved San Mateo County is truly a rich and diverse landscape. Whether you live bayside or by the sea, there is no doubt that we all cherish this special place we call home.
As precious as it is, one of the biggest threats to our natural environment is our overconsumption of single-use plastics. Despite our best intentions, these products often end up in our local waterways where they can reduce water quality, harm local wildlife, and damage human health when ingested by the fish we eat. This is why it is so important for all of us to be stewards of our environment, and do what we can to establish a litter-free San Mateo County.
Luckily, there are actions you can take today and any day to help preserve our environment and keep our communities healthy and safe!
Coastal Cleanup Day 2023
Coastal Cleanup Day is an annual statewide waterway and land cleanup held on the third Saturday of every September. It’s the state’s largest annual volunteer event and an excellent opportunity for all of us to come together as a community to remove trash from our environment before the winter storms come along and transport it into our waterways, the San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean.
Since 1985, over 1.6 million volunteers across the state have collected over 26 million pounds of trash! But this event is about more than just removing trash from our environment. The data that we collect from Coastal Cleanup Day has served a critical role in shaping groundbreaking legislation such as the single-use plastic bag ban that California passed in 2016. Since that time, we have observed a major decrease in the percentage of plastic bags found on beaches during Coastal Cleanup Day, which begs the question: What other single-use plastics can we get banned through collective action?
This year, The California Coastal Commission announced that the 39th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day will be held on Saturday, September 23, 2023, from 9am to Noon. Please visit https://www.smchealth.org/general-information/coastal-cleanup-day-2023 to learn about the 30+ clean-up locations you can volunteer at in San Mateo County and register with a team.
Can’t make it that morning? You can still participate in Coastal Cleanup Day by cleaning up your neighborhood any time throughout the month of September. Stormwater runoff can transport plastic waste and other pollutants from our neighborhoods into our local waterways at a very fast rate, so you can still make a huge impact on water quality and marine health by staying local.
This event also serves as a reminder that we are overusing and discarding way too much trash into our environment each year. Participating in Coastal Cleanup Day is an easy way to help remedy the problem, but the real solution is for all of us to consider how we can reduce how much plastic waste we produce every day.
At Flows To Bay, Zero Waste Is The Way
Zero waste is a process and a philosophy that involves a redesign of products and consumption in a way that all material goods can be reused or recycled—or not discarded at all. This approach champions actions we can take to avoid using the single-use plastics that we often find washing up on our beautiful coastline.
Recycling is often celebrated as one of the best environmental actions that we can take as individuals. While it’s still important to recycle whenever possible, refusing to use products, reducing our consumption, and reusing materials often have a larger positive impact on our environment.
Refuse
The best thing you can do to have an impact on plastic waste reduction is to simply refuse to use single-use plastics whenever possible. This may seem challenging at first, but with some basic preparation, it can become fairly easy. By saying “no thanks” to free disposable items and carrying your own reusable items such as grocery bags, a water bottle, and cutlery, you can make a huge difference!
Reduce
The less we consume, the less we waste! Although it may seem obvious, we can find great power in reducing the amount of items we own and choose to buy going forward. More often than not, we don’t end up using these items as we originally intended to and they can end up as waste in our landfills and on our beaches.
Reuse
Although we should all strive to refuse and reduce whenever we can, there will always be a need for us to consume. In these moments, reusing is what we can do to extend the usefulness of the products we consume before they are discarded. This can be a very fun and creative activity, such as repairing clothing or turning an empty pasta jar into a vase for your flowers.
Support Local Businesses!
Another great way to contribute to waste reduction is to support local sustainable businesses that are working to make a zero-waste and plastic-free lifestyle easier for all San Mateo County residents. Check out a few highlights below!
- Reusable San Mateo County is currently piloting reusable takeout containers with several eateries in Burlingame.
- Byrd’s Filling Station is a sustainable grocery store that sells reusable containers and offers bulk refill services to completely cut single-use plastic out of the picture. Read our blog from last year to learn more about their incredible story.
- Okapi Reusables partners with local cafes to offer reusable cups that keep your drink hotter or colder longer and minimize environmental impact.
Remember, stormwater pollution prevention starts with you! There are so many ways that you can help reduce single-use plastic waste in our community. You can volunteer at Coastal Cleanup Day, take our litter pledge, support one of the sustainable businesses listed above, or decide to make one small and simple change in your lifestyle to contribute to waste reduction in San Mateo County. Zero waste may be the goal, but when many of us collectively reduce our waste just a little bit, we can achieve so much more than we ever thought was possible.
Have questions or ideas you’d like to share about how to reduce waste in your community? Flows To Bay is here to help! Reach out to Flows To Bay and we’ll gladly do what we can to support you.
