As expected, our numbers were a little down, but we still managed to grab 250 lbs of trash & 320 lbs of recyclables from the streets of Laguna Beach!

• According to research, about 845,000 tons of cigarette butts wind up as litter every year globally. Cig. butts are the most littered item in the world!

• Littered butts release chemicals similar to those found in pesticides into the sand and ocean we play in, thereby exposing humans to pollutants we cannot see or smell.

• A recent study has revealed that each of the 4.5 trillion cigarette butts strewn around the world is toxic to fish: a single filter can kill a fish that shares a liter of water with the used butt.

• Many people seem to think that cigarette filters are biodegradable but this isn’t true…  at least not in the traditional sense.  The acetate (plastic) filters can actually take as long as a decade to decompose.

• It’s common for items like soda cans, snack wrappers, and fast food containers to have a simple “Please Don’t Litter” message. For whatever reason, smokers aren’t given the same reminder.

Just thought you might be interested. See you on Saturday, 10 am, at Whole Foods, Hobie, El Ranchito, LBHS, or Yogaworks & La Sirena. Courtney at Whole Foods has a bunch of goodies lined up for the Red Army & Michael Avila will be hosting the after-party, as always. We look forward to seeing you all there!

For an interesting read on cigarette butts, here is a recent article to check out from the NY Times.

Highlights from May 2..

• Awesome 1st Saturday debut from Whole Foods… Courtney and Holly came out strong!
• Laguna Coffee and XS Energy Drinks for keeping the trash pickers caffeinated at each of our locations!
• After party at El Ranchito with a 10% discount for everyone in a red shirt!

A strong showing from the Laguna Beach community helped to remove another 590 lbs. of trash and 375 lbs. of recyclables from the streets.  Many thanks to everyone involved – let’s continue this trend and work for a cleaner, greener Laguna and beyond!

You know the drill. Put on your red shirts. Grab your pickers if you have ‘em. Join us at Hobie, LBHS, Thalia, El Ranchito, La Sirena/Yogaworks & our newest location.. the WHOLE FOODS MARKET on Broadway!

Michael Avila & the ZT crew

April brought us another successfull 1st Saturday. We appreciate all the great support from our friends at Hobie, Thalia, LBHS, El Ranchito, La Sirena & Yogaworks! Most of all, big ups to the residents of ZeroTrash Laguna! Our numbers were stellar this weekend once again:

Recycling: 580 lbs

Trash: 340 lbs

It’s good to see our numbers continue to move in the right direction. We’re getting better & better about properly sorting all the junk we find and sending less of it to the landfills.

Thanks Everybody!

We Heart Mexican Food

On April 4th, ZeroTrash is excited to welcome two of Laguna’s best Mexican restaurants to ZeroTrash Laguna’s 1st Saturday this weekend! Remember, we pushed the start time back to 10am. You’re welcome, party animals!

La Sirena Grill will be teaming up with Yogaworks down in SoLag. Their food is amazing if you haven’t tried it yet. The owner, Scott Cortellessa, really gets it when it comes to environmental responsibility. All of his restaurants serve only local, sustainable, and organic products. They’ll be serving up killer breakfast burritos and the like, hooking up ZeroTrash members before and after the pickup. Yogaworks is offering a free yoga sesh right after the pick-up @ 12:30.

Avila’s El Ranchito is taking the place of the Brooks Street location. It’s right on the corner of Cress & PCH. Michael Avila is stoked join the movement and will be throwing a big ZeroTrash Bash at the restaurant. Tons of good grub, suds, bloodies & margies!

Free drinks will be provided by Laguna Coffee & XS Energy at these two sites, as well as Hobie, Thalia Surf Shop and Laguna Beach High School. You can show up at any of them at 10am to pick up your trash picker, bags & free t-shirt.

CLICK HERE TO RSVP ON FACEBOOK

See you there!

1. Recycle. Baby, don’t throw it all away. Up to 70% of materials routinely disposed of in landfills could be recycled instead. Visit the National Recycling Coalition for more info.
2. Compost. Every year we each throw away about 1200 lbs of organic garbage that could be turned back into sweet, sweet soil just by digging a hole, covering it with a lid, throwing your yard trimmings/food scraps in it and letting the worms do their thing. Don’t have a place to dig a hole? Check out how apartment dwellers do it in NY.
3. If you smoke, properly dispose of your cigarette butts. A lot of people think butts are biodegradable. Not so much. When these acetate (plastic) filters are thrown on the ground, their final destination is typically our waterways; where they stay for hundreds of years releasing toxic chemicals into our drinking water and destroying aquatic ecosystems.
4. Join the fight against single-use plastic bags.  One million plastic shopping bags are used every minute. They’re awful. They hang around indefinitely and break down until they become small enough to seep into our ground water (and our bodies). They also have a tendency to find their way into the ocean, killing all sorts of marine life.
5. Buy sustainable. Change will come from us as consumers creating a greater demand for things like Biodegradable trash bags and products made from recycled materials.
6. We need to address our drinking problem. Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour. Most of them are tossed in the trash. We also throw away 25,000,000,000 styrofoam coffee cups every year. Find out more about the problems of single-use plastics at Rise Above Plastics
7. Take your old appliances, clothes, furniture, etc. to a thrift store instead of throwing them in the trash. Give your stuff a chance to be reused.

8. When see trash lying around – don’t walk past it!? Pick it up!

By making a few simple changes we can all do our part to keep trash out of our city streets, landfills and waterways. Keep up the good work ZT Heroes!

The ZeroTrash Laguna gang at Brooks

Thank you to everyone who came out for ZeroTrash Laguna’s 1st Saturday this past this weekend. We broke all kinds of records.. by far our biggest turnout to date. Thalia and Hobie both saw HUGE bumps in participation. Here are the results just sent over by Waste Management of Orange County:

RECYCLING: 610 lbs
TRASH: 418 lbs (Let’s continue to lower this number by correctly separating. Don’t forget, the goal is ZeroTrash)

For those of you who couldn’t make it this time, we’re already planning the next 1st Saturday on April 4. Please note that we’ll be pushing back the time to 10am from here forward. We would also like to welcome La Sirena (30862 South Coast Hwy) and El Ranchito (at Cress Street) to the ZTL lineup.

Nice work everybody! Stay tuned for our feature on composting later this week.

Join us this Saturday, March 7, for our 1st Saturday trash pickup in Laguna Beach. What is 1st Saturday? It is the cornerstone of the ZeroTrash movement; a monthly event bringing together local resident adopters and small businesses to pick up their city streets… and have a little fun in the process.

If you’re new to ZeroTrash or a salty vet, come out and show your support this Saturday. You can swing by one of the following locations at 8am to pick up your ZeroTrash t-shirt and trash picker:

Hobie Surf Shop: 294 Forest Ave

Thalia Street Surf Shop: 903 S Coast Hwy

Laguna Beach High School: The marquee at

Brooks Street: at the beach access

Yoga Works: 30818 Coast Hwy

We invite you all to stick around after the pickup to show your support for our founding chapter, ZeroTrash Laguna, by walking with us in the parade.

See you there!