Milestone Reached In Effort To Clean California

Sacramento, CA – This week marks a milestone for a Caltrans program to clean up California communities up and down the state, creating over 18,000 jobs.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s $1.2 billion Clean California initiative was launched in July 2021 to beautify the state’s highway system and local communities by hauling away mountains of trash and investing in hundreds of transformative local projects.

“For decades, trash piled up on California’s highways and in our communities without a concerted, comprehensive effort to clean it up. Three years ago, Clean California became our answer. Countless neighborhoods in every corner of our state are cleaner and healthier thanks to Clean California,” touted Newsom.

The program has created more than 18,000 jobs, including more than 3,800 positions for formerly incarcerated individuals and nearly 2,800 for people experiencing housing insecurity. These workers and volunteers have cleared more than 2.6 million cubic yards of litter, which is enough to cover nine lanes of Interstate 5 with an inch of trash from San Diego to the Canadian border.

Other statistics provided by Caltrans related to the program include:

• I collected 12,000+ mattresses
• Collected 50,000 tires
• Hosted more than 500 free dump days in communities throughout the state
• Enlisted nearly 60,000 community clean-up volunteers

Caltrans noted that to date, 94 of 312 projects have been completed, and another 171 are expected to be finished in the next 12 months. Find out how to volunteer by clicking here.