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# Trash talk: Agencies send clear message
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/trash-talk-agencies-send-clear-message/
- Published: 2005-05-27T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:12:18.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Environment, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Large portion of LA trash makes way into ocean*

*By JOYCE CHANG Special to the Daily Press*

Two public agencies are throwing millions of dollars into a campaign aimed at curbing storm water pollution.

The “Don’t Trash Califor nia” message to be delivered throughout the state will cost $6.5 million and is headed up by the California Department of Transportation and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.

The 22-month campaign will run through September 2006\. Caltrans will use $6.5 million in funding from the gas tax portion of the state highway account. To help reach area residents, the public works department will contribute $560,000 to the $580,000 that Caltrans has already committed to support LA County-based advertising.

It’s estimated that LA County residents generate more than 200 tons of litter each year, with a large portion of that going straight into the ocean, especially during the rainy season. Thousands of gallons of fluids from automobile leaks, hazardous wastes, commercial solvents and urban runoff enter storm drains and flow into local rivers and the ocean, officials said.

“Litter is a problem and there’s things you can do personally,” said Mike Flake, chief of storm water policy for Caltrans. “Stop littering or encourage others to stop through peer pressure.”

The multimedia campaign includes radio and television advertisements, billboards, bus and bus shelter posters, cinema slides and trash can wraps. Campaign materials will be bilingual, in both English and Spanish. The program also involves special events and community outreach such as participation in community fairs and festivals. Through partnerships with sports teams, information booths about the campaign will be set up at the games of several teams, including the Anaheim Angels and the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Research indicates that litter in LA County predominately comes from pedestrians, drivers, household garbage cans, commercial dumpsters, construction sites, loading docks and uncovered trucks, officials said. The No. 1 item found along California freeways is cigarette butts, according to Caltrans. Flake said people also sometimes inadvertently litter when they don’t cover the loads that they’re hauling in their trucks.

Flake suggested that although improving water and air quality are important and related, a campaign focused on improving the environment through eliminating litter was more feasible for the agency.

“Not littering is probably the most basic message,” he said. “Telling people to buy a more efficient car doesn’t really sell. This is a message that anybody in any demographic can adapt and react to.”

Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning up the bay, said changing people’s behavior takes much more than just making them aware through one campaign.

“If we can ever get the state of California and the local cities to coordinate their campaigns, it would be much better,” he said. “For everyone to do their own campaigns, it’s not as effective.”

Flake said although the campaign theme was targeted for Generation Xers and males in the 18-24 age range, who are predominantly part of the problem, they also want to reach the general public and children before they develop bad behaviors.

The Don’t Trash California campaign is based on Caltrans’ three-year, public education pilot program in the Fresno metropolitan area completed in 2003\. Survey results indicated that people had heard the educational messages, made changes in their behavior and encouraged others to stop polluting. The success of the pilot program convinced Caltrans that the campaign would be worthwhile to put into effect statewide.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 27, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052705.pdf?ref=smdp.com)