Volunteers clean up Goleta as part of city’s sustainability efforts

GOLETA, Calif.- Volunteers banded together Saturday morning to clean up Goleta.

“It's just very admirable that people will dedicate their time to do the right thing and keep Goleta beautiful,” said Elks Lodge member Bob Wignot. 

A love for community and a desire to help preserve the city’s beauty is what drives many people like Cecilia Brown to volunteer their free time to pick up trash. 

“It's important as a member of the community to volunteer to make sure you get the community that you want to have,” said Brown. 

It is this same love of community that led Roger Aceves to found “Beautify Goleta” 7 years ago. 

“We have accumulated over 175,000 pounds of trash that has been recycled, so it stayed out of the landfill,” said Aceves. 

Central coast residents participated in other ways than just manually picking up trash. 

“We're helping cities like Goleta here today beautify and clean up their community with these dump days where people can bring bulky items,” said Cal Trans spokesperson Colin Jones. 

Many brought truck loads of unwanted furniture and other bulky items to dispose of in the dumpsters at Ellwood Bluffs. 

“We couldn't do without our many, many, many volunteers that have come through with pounds and trash,” said Roger Aceves

The volunteers were all entered to win prizes for their generous efforts. 

The most popular items included recyclable cutlery and insulated lunch packs.

For more information on how you can contribute to keeping Goleta clean visit cityofgoleta.org .