LITTER CAMPAIGN
SANTA ROSA
Have you seen creek critters like these cleaning up litter in your neighborhood? It’s time to pitch in and help your furry and feathered friends!
E.P.I.C - Roseland
The beauty of Santa Rosa is that it stands as a melting pot of wide-ranging cultures, communities, and backgrounds. Perhaps none other than the Roseland community stands as the most shining example of what makes Santa Rosa so special!
Roseland hosts a radiant Hispanic culture teeming with colorful artwork, unique mercados, local ice cream shops, salons, and exceptional shopping where you immerse yourself in colorful conchas, elaborate handmade pinatas, the smell of chiles and rare spices in the air, and of course the food! Easily the biggest draw to this area of town is it is home to the highest rated and most sought-after Mexican cuisine you can find. Food trucks are on every corner, and all provide their own flare to the most authentic Mexican food in the North Bay area! Taquerias and restaurants are abundant to let you live out the most immersive dining experience this radiant community has to offer.
As this community is teeming with life, its businesses and leaders have forged a strong partnership with the City of Santa Rosa to ensure we preserve the value and beauty Roseland has to offer to its citizens and others who want to experience all this special place has to offer.
This area has become a crown jewel in the Santa Rosa area and has also been chosen to be highlighted as a clean, trash free community where people all around the Bay Area can shop, dine, and play!
Roseland is alive. Roseland is vibrant. Roseland is E.P.I.C!
The Campaign
When – April 22nd, 2025 through July 4th, 2025
E.P.I.C Clean Up Event on Earth Day
To kick off the EPIC Campaign in Roseland, Santa Rosa will host an EPIC Clean Up on Earth Day
Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 9am - 11am, Sebastopol Rd from Roseland Ave to Olive St. Meet at Sebastopol Rd & Dutton Ave in the Lola’s parking lot.
Who
The City of Santa Rosa is launching an E.P.I.C outreach campaign in Roseland as a low cost alternative for eliminating trash from entering our community storm drains. To be successful, we need help from residents, community groups, and businesses in Roseland to join us and take action together to eliminate trash from entering our storm drains and polluting our local waterways, like Roseland Creek! Partners such as Roseland Boys and Girls Club, Lolas, Mitote Food Court, Roseland Elementary and others have already joined in to help make Roseland E.P.I.C!
What
To build awareness in Roseland, images of creek critters, like birds, otters, and squirrels will be installed along Sebastopol Road reminding all of us that our streets connect to our creeks. And our creeks are their home! Each critter is holding a piece of refuse identified by a specific color: Blue represents recycling, Green represents compostables, and Pink represents trash! Look for these unique art pieces around the area as you experience Roseland. But don’t be siloed into only looking at business windows and trash cans, sometimes the biggest artwork is up high in the sky! Come see if you can find all the unique critters here in Roseland!
Public perception is a major part of a trash free community. Studies have shown when an area is clean and litter free, people are less likely to exhibit behaviors which lead to increased trash on streets. Adding additional street sweeping days and focusing community cleanups in areas with known high trash generation rates will be a major focus of the campaign. Recology will be sweeping twice as often to ensure the streets remain clean throughout the duration of the campaign. The dirtiest areas will be targeted with No Parking signs to allow for street sweepers to clean up places where trash accumulates most.
Removing barriers to put trash in its place is another major step towards a clean community. Eight new trash bins have been added along portions of Sebastopol Road. Of those newly installed bins, look for local artwork on four self-compacting big belly trash cans along Sebastopol Road that really make them pop! These trash bins not only serve a purpose as a place for citizens to easily put their trash and keep streets clean, but as a symbol of a resilient and vibrant community filled with forward thinking artists. Something as simple as providing more trash or recycling receptacles for the community is a proven way to decrease trash on streets.
Where
The EPIC Campaign is a trash reduction pilot program along the ¾ mile section of Sebastopol Road, between Roseland Ave and Olive St. This area has approximately 59 storm drain inlets that convey untreated surface runoff through approximately 7,158 feet of storm drain pipe that drains directly into Roseland Creek.
Why
The effectiveness of the EPIC pilot program will inform and assist the City, businesses, and residences towards future implementation efforts citywide required for compliance of the statewide trash amendment.
In Santa Rosa, storm drains are connected directly to creeks, like Roseland Creek, which flow untreated to the Laguna de Santa Rosa and on to the Russian River. (Learn about the path from the Roseland area storm drains to the Pacific Ocean.) Due to this direct connection, trash and litter entering a storm drain from private, residential and business properties or public streets can easily impact the health of our waterways. To protect our waterways, the State Water Resources Control Board adopted a statewide provision banning any trash 5mm (the width of a cigarette butt) or larger from entering storm drain by 2030.
Within the City of Santa Rosa, on average approximately 47 full garbage trucks (equivalent to 1,100 cubic feet) of trash is removed from our creeks each year! Compounded across approximately 482 cities statewide, the collective impact of trash on our environment is significant.
The sewer system and storm drain system are two completely separate networks. The storm drain system allows rainwater during storms to flow directly to the nearest creek or river untreated. Potential pollutants such as trash, oil, soap, sediment, or other contaminants can easily enter our waterways.
If the campaign is effective, it would be a lower cost solution for implementation across the city. And more importantly, it will show how valuable the Roseland community is as a clean, trash free area for others to shop, dine, and play!
Campaign Duration
The pilot study will kick off with a community clean-up on Earth Day 2025, April 22nd and will end during the first week of July.
Roseland E.P.I.C. Campaign Area
Each star represents where new trash bins will be placed within the community. Art work will be strategically placed through the pilot area along windows, businesses, and other prominent features in the Roseland to remind us that our streets are connected to our creeks! Recology will increase their street sweeping along Sebastopol Road to help improve public perception of how clean the area is. No Parking signs will also be piloted in select areas to help street sweepers get to chronically impacted areas.
