The Sustainability Committee at Fullerton College celebrated Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, by hosting its second cleanup of the year for the Fullerton Channel. Fullerton College adopted a section of the Fullerton Channel in April 2024 and hosted their inaugural cleanup of the channel during Earth Week.
The channel is located at 1424 Riverside Dr. and is a part of Coastal Cleanup Day, the largest annual volunteer event in California where people all across the state help keep the environment clean by collecting any trash found in lakes, rivers, coasts and shorelines.
The Adopt A Channel program and California Coastal Cleanup Day sponsored Saturday’s event which drew 37 volunteers, an increase over the 15 volunteers at the April event.
Tyler Deacy, the director of sustainability at Fullerton College, began the event by giving a safety talk and assigning roles to the volunteers such as covering graffiti or walking along the channel collecting trash. Volunteers were equipped with gloves, grabbers and trash bags to safely dispose of the trash found in the channel.
Students from the Biology Club and the Sustainability Committee were assigned the farthest corner of the channel and worked their way towards the entrance picking up any trash that they found on the ground including rusty nails, food wrappers and cigarette butts.
Roman de Jesus, co-chair for the Office of Sustainability, noted that the channel has been looking cleaner since the first event back in April. Less trash and graffiti have been seen above and inside of the channel by de Jesus.
The channel runs into both the San Gabriel River and the Pacific Ocean. Keeping this section of the Fullerton Channel clean not only makes for a better looking area for the community but it also keeps trash out of the ocean.
“It doesn’t seem like we are directly connected to the ocean but this is a demonstration that the college is committed to helping improve the conditions in the oceans by cleaning up the channel,” said de Jesus.
Thanks to the help of the volunteers, the cleanup ended earlier than anticipated. According to Deacy, over 25 pounds of trash were collected during the cleanup, bringing the total amount of trash collected this year to about 50 pounds.
“I think waste is one of those things that you just imagine everything going to a landfill but just this year we have removed about 50 pounds of trash from this channel so it is important to make sure you know where your stuff is going,” said Deacy.
The Adopt A Channel program requires Fullerton College to do two cleanups a year at the Fullerton Channel. Plans for the next cleanup are set for spring of next year. Keep an eye out for the Natural Science Division and Biology Club on Instagram for updates on future events.
“I think it’s important to care for the spaces that we enjoy. Usually people go to these green and park spaces for enjoyment and we can improve these areas by keeping them clean,” said de Jesus.
