Downtown San Bernardino receives Clean California designation

Only weeks after being labeled one of the dirtiest cities in the U.S., a group of volunteers has turned that around by achieving Clean California Community status from Caltrans’ Clean CA initiative. San Bernardino is one of 32 communities to earn the designation so far in the state.

Downtown San Bernardino, a business association lead by Realicore Real Estate co-founder David Friedman, applied for the designation and then hosted community cleanups, created anti-littering campaigns, and organized educational workshops. The City of San Bernardino will be contributing by installing additional trash cans downtown and in area parking garages.

Launched as a statewide initiative in 2021 by Caltrans to clean up, reclaim, transform, and beautify public spaces statewide, Clean California has invested $1.2 billion in litter collection, education, and community engagement.

To earn the Clean California designation, communities must commit to meet 10 or more of the following criteria and be able to provide records that they were completed:

• The community leader must sign the pledge;
• Establish an informal Clean CA committee or some other advisory body;
• Get community input through a public meeting, a survey, a special event, or some other means of gathering feedback from the public on your community’s approach;
• Conduct an initial litter assessment to establish your baseline;
• Hold regular community cleanups;
• Establish metrics and measure regularly to track progress.
• Educate the community by providing signage, community programs, or school lessons to clean up and prevent litter;
• Provide K-12 educational programs* to help inform anti-littering behaviors among the youngest generations;
• Offer some form of enforcement or deterrence to prevent future littering;
• Create a long-term plan to ensure your community becomes and/or stays clean;
• Place anti-litter infrastructure in key locations, such as trash and recycling bins that are emptied regularly or utilize regular street sweeping to clean as you go;
• Green and beautify your community by planting trees, gardens, or flower beds, or create public art to make your community more vibrant;
• Schedule/host collection drives for hard-to-recycle items, such as “dump days” or “amnesty days;”
• Engage at least 5 local business partners to support your campaign;
• Provide cigarette receptacles to help contain the most widely littered item on the planet.

As a Clean California Community, San Bernardino will have priority access to more resources and grants to continue the clean-up work. For more information visit CleanCA.com/Designation.