History

Serving San Diego County Since 1954

Through the decades we've taken different approaches to conservation and education.

1954: Growth in San Diego had surged in the two prior decades, fueled by the aviation industry during WWII. As the community grew, litter emerged as a pressing problem. The County and City responded with the "War Against Litter" Committee, ILACSD's first incarnation.
1960s: The organization's first mascot, Pelican Pete, was unveiled in 1961. Later that year a downtown parade of dignitaries, boy scouts, and military personnel kicked off the "War Against Litter Week."
1970s: Board members and staff developed a new slogan "Stop Littering Our Bays and Beaches" or SLOBB for short to drive the anti-litter message home with beach and bay goers. The SLOBB campaign won numerous awards and even spawned a Miss SLOBB pageant.
1974: ILACSD becomes a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit corporation 1980 - "I Love A Clean San Diego County" (ILACSDC) becomes organization's name.
1984: The Padres went all the way to the World Series, and ILACSDC was there to help celebrate. Recycling bins were placed around the then named Jack Murphy Stadium to divert waste from tailgate parties, after all "a winning team deserves a clean city!"
1989: ILACSDC merges with San Diego Ecology Center to better serve the community.
1990s: Extending the success of the Adopt-A-Beach program, ILACSDC launched the "Adopt and maintain a bus stop bench" program to cleanup city streets and make public transportation more attractive to residents.
1995: Name change from I Love A Clean San Diego County to I Love A Clean San Diego. ILACSD received the Excellence in Solid Waste Education award from the Solid Waste Association of North America.
2003: ILACSD took a page out of the history books, organizing a large-scale, countywide cleanup during Earth month. The resulting Creek to Bay cleanup was a resounding success with almost 2,000 volunteers removing 25,000 pounds of debris.
2006: Annually, ILACSD coordinates over 13,000 volunteers to remove 100 tons of trash and debris from San Diego, delivers 250 presentations and community events.
2007: I Love A Clean San Diego was awarded with a proclamation from the City of Chula Vista recognizing our coordination of the annual Beautify Chula Vista Day. The event boasted close to 1,000 volunteers and was the most successful in history.
As a Keep America Beautiful affiliate, ILACSD received the President’s Circle Recognition Award for achieving all standards of excellence as an affiliate.
2008: ILACSD has recently been recognized through proclamations by the County Board of Supervisors for its work conducting Electronic Recycling events, as well as the City of Chula Vista for coordination of the annual volunteer event, Beautify Chula Vista Day. Recent initiatives have included the creation of the San Diego Clean Beach Coalition to address litter issues facing local beaches over popular summer holidays, as well as outreach campaigns educating San Diego residents about the proper disposal of needles, syringes, and other sharps.
2009: Nearly 21,000 requests for waste items made to our one stop recycling resource, www.WasteFreeSD.org. This valuable resource diverted immeasurable waste from San Diego's already over extended landfills, and prevented incidences of illegal dumping that contaminates our community.