By Jo Moreland
Alpine Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce
For The Alpine Sun
“I Love a Clean Alpine” really cleaned up again this year!
The annual Earth Day celebration on April 22 brought in 1,500 pounds of trash and items from Alpine Creek and additional litter from Alpine Boulevard.
Documents for shredding, electronic waste and small batteries were collected at the Alpine Regional Center, 1620 Alpine Blvd.
By Jo Moreland
Alpine Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce
For The Alpine Sun
“I Love a Clean Alpine” really cleaned up again this year!
The annual Earth Day celebration on April 22 brought in 1,500 pounds of trash and items from Alpine Creek and additional litter from Alpine Boulevard.
Documents for shredding, electronic waste and small batteries were collected at the Alpine Regional Center, 1620 Alpine Blvd.
The annual morning presented and sponsored by the Alpine Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce drew residents determined to tackle waste.
“I’m doing it because I want my city to be clean,” said Betty Valenzuela, wearing gloves and carrying a trash bag as she headed for the boulevard.
“I Love a Clean Alpine” was a community service project for Kelly Tanner of Crest.
“I see way too many people throw trash out their (vehicle) windows —- especially cigarette butts,” Tanner said.
Director Jon Green of the Back Country Land Trust, which partnered with “I Love a Clean San Diego” for the Alpine event, said this year’s work on a mile of Alpine Creek went “pretty well.”
One hundred pounds of e-waste collected from the creek bed near the Alpine Boulevard/Tavern Road intersection contained quite a few batteries, Green said. About 50 pounds of the litter that was picked up by about 20 volunteers can be recycled.
“Some good news from this year —- we didn’t have any tires!” he said. “That’s a first! And we only had three shopping carts and they could all be returned to the stores. The first time we cleaned the creek about three years ago we had 14 carts.”
This year’s “I Love a Clean Alpine” sponsors included the Alpine Regional Center, Back Country Land Trust, “I Love a Clean San Diego,” Harbison Canyon Lions, Kiwanis Club of Alpine, Waste Management, Lantern Crest Senior Living, Pearson Brothers Winery, Kamps Propane and Village Carpets/Flooring America.
Green credited the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department with making the creek cleanup safer by clearing out people from illegal encampments. Ace Hardware donated cleanup supplies.
Two air compressors, a small cast iron elephant and a dining room chair made into a toilet were among unusual items found.
So was a kitchen range that couldn’t be removed last year because it was full of bees.
This year, Green said, the bees were gone and the range oven held possibly a few hundred dollars worth of honeycomb.
“I think this repeated, cumulative effort has had a positive impact, just consistently keeping an eye on that creek area,” he said.
At the Regional Center, Update Green Inc. of San Diego helped people quickly empty recyclables from about 15 vehicles during the first hour. More items kept coming.
“We need to keep our environment clean and we want to do our part,” said resident Jan Charvat of Alpine as he dropped off his items.
The day started at the Triangle in the town’s center with a traditional flag raising by Chaplain Theo Bazdorf of Alpine’s VFW Bert Fuller Post 9578,
Cleanup participants got a free continental breakfast from the Harbison Canyon Lions. Club member Dorothy Stewart, who is also a Sheriff’s Senior Volunteer, briefed the volunteers about safety. The Kiwanis Club provided free hot dog lunches for the event.
