SMC students organized a neighborhood cleanup for a few hours to increase sustainability.

Santa Monica College's Sustainability Manager, Ferris Kawar, organized the cleanup to prevent trash from being swept into the ocean during rainstorms. (Photo: Presley Alexander/The Corsair)

A pile of trash outside of John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica, Calif. on March 23, 2023. (Photo: Presley Alexander/The Corsair)

Santa Monica College student Michelle Labib carries a bucket of collected litter to a trash can in Los Angeles, Calif on March 23, 2023. (Photo: Presley Alexander/The Corsair)

Students hold full buckets of trash collected around the Santa Monica College campus in Los Angeles, Calif. on March 23, 2023. (Photo: Presley Alexander/The Corsair)

Buckets of trash collected by Santa Monica College students sit outside the Sustainability Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on March 23, 2023. (Photo: Presley Alexander/The Corsair)

Santa Monica College’s (SMC) sustainability center hosted a neighborhood cleanup event on Thursday, March 23. Students met in front of the library where they were provided with gloves, buckets and reach extenders to safely dispose of litter.

The group of students headed into the streets surrounding the SMC main campus and collected several buckets of trash. Representatives from the Sustainability Center and the Eco-Action club assisted, also collecting contact information for students interested in joining SMC’s sustainability efforts.

The Eco-Action club is planning several upcoming events with speakers on environmentalism-related topics, including a speaker on aquaculture and another to talk about the controversial Scattergood Generating Station in Playa Del Rey, California. They meet at the Sustainability Center at 1744 Pearl St. on Mondays at 1 p.m..

Every September, the Sustainability Center hosts a cleanup event at the Inkwell, a stretch of Santa Monica beach adopted by SMC. In 2019, more than 800 volunteers cleared 264 pounds of trash from the Inkwell. The sustainability department encourages students to volunteer for these cleanup events.

According to Ferris Kawar, the organizer of the event and manager of the Sustainability Center, this cleanup event was particularly important following the stormy weather in Los Angeles. Many storm drains in Los Angeles sweep trash directly into the ocean, where it can be consumed by animals. These animals are not able to digest plastic, but it still takes up space in their stomach, ultimately leading them to die.

SMC’s Recycling Program Specialist, Kenneth Dereig said that Santa Monica recently opened the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP), a stormwater and wastewater recycling facility.

“So, fortunately, it does actually look like a lot of the trash being washed away in the streets will actually be captured and taken care of,” he said. “in Santa Monica, at least.”

Interested students can visit the Sustainability Center on Pearl Street, across from the library on the main campus. More information can also be found on their website or by contacting sustainability@smc.edu.

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