Clean California Marks Three Years of Progress

California is commemorating a major milestone with its key initiative to beautify communities up and down the state, and creating over 18,000 jobs. The program has hauled away more than 2.6 million cubic yards of litter – enough to cover nine lanes of Interstate 5 with an inch of trash from San Diego to the Canadian border.

Launched in July 2021, the sweeping $1.2 billion initiative has – and continues to – beautify the state’s highway system and local communities by hauling away mountains of trash and investing in hundreds of transformative local projects.

Thanks to Caltrans, Clean California and its partners have so far:

• Hauled away more than 2.6 million cubic yards of litter – enough to cover nine lanes of Interstate 5 with an inch of trash from San Diego to the Canadian border

• Hosted more than 500 free dump days in communities throughout the state

• Collected 12,000-plus mattresses

• Collected 50,000 tires 

• Enlisted nearly 60,000 community clean-up volunteers, and 

• Created over 18,000 jobs, including positions for individuals who were formerly incarcerated, on probation, or experiencing housing insecurity.

The program’s first three years included a surge in the number of cleanup crews collecting trash on public highway rights-of-way. But an equally important goal of Clean California has been to extend a zero-litter philosophy beyond the public highway system into every local community and instill renewed pride. So far, 94 of 312 projects have been completed, and another 171 are expected to be finished in the next 12 months.