The weather was beautiful on Saturday, April 30, 2011 for Castro Valley Sanitary District’s (CVSan’s) Earth Day events.  Approximately 750 volunteers at 12 Castro Valley schools and 5 public sites participated in the 9^th annual Earth Day Clean-Up.  Volunteers cleared 40 cu. yards of plant debris to be composted and abated 10 cu. yards of litter from Castro Valley streets, parks, schools, and creeks.

Volunteers enjoyed a free breakfast, provided by Castro Valley Sanitary District, Castro Valley Adult School’s ACE Program, Peet’s Coffee, Starbucks Coffee, and Safeway. Other event sponsors included Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, Pete’s ACE Hardware, Alameda County Clean Water Program, Hayward Area Recreation District, Alameda County Public Works Agency, and Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. (WMAC).

WMAC sponsored CVSan’s 9^th free Recycle event and Compost Give-Away, also held on April 30^th.  Within the course of seven (7) hours, 743 CVSan residents and business-owners showed their mettle as responsible consumers by participating in last month’s Recycle event.

They recycled 565 banker boxes of sensitive documents, 99 mattresses and box spring sets, 338 lbs. of pharmaceuticals, and 380 pounds of cardboard.  Below are photos of pharmaceuticals being collected by event staff.

The Pharmaceuticals and Mattress and box spring sets collected from this event were safely and properly recycled instead of being disposed of in a landfill, which poses a risk to human and environmental health and safety.

Three thousand (3,000) 1-cubic foot bags of compost were also distributed to event attendees (three per vehicle).

Castro Valley Sanitary District thanks all its volunteers, residents, and sponsors for helping to keep Castro Valley beautiful!