Trash clean-up via Litterati an ongoing success at the refuge

San Jose Conservation Corps cleaning up various ponds and levees in the south San Francisco Bay. Credit Olivia Andrus.

by Mary Deschene

The Litterati app-based pollution prevention and trash clean-up, sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, is an ongoing success at the refuge. With the help of the San Jose Conservation Corps and volunteer groups, we have cleaned up nearly two tons of trash, keeping plastics and small pieces of trash often mistaken for food by wildlife and plastics out of the bay and ocean systems.

San Jose Conservation Corps cleaning up various ponds and levees in the south San Francisco Bay. Credit Olivia Andrus.

A special thanks goes to Operations Coordinator Olivia Andrus for training and leading crews and volunteer groups, uploading more than 12,000 photos of trash into the Litterati database, and promoting this exciting new method of “inspiring a litter-free world.” The oceans will thank you forever for your efforts, Olivia.

San Jose Conservation Corps cleaning up various ponds and levees in the south San Francisco Bay. Credit Olivia Andrus.

Whole Foods Markets is supporting our efforts to preserve a clean San Francisco Bay for wildlife. Whole Foods is contributing donations from their Nickels for Non-Profits program at their Fremont and Santa Clara stores to the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society.

Thanks also to Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc. whose donation aided a Pollution Prevention exhibit that will keep the Litterati message going into the future.