Initial research included review and assessment of the following:

Existing litter reduction and abatement efforts in Long Beach

• Residential refuse carts with lids
• Public litter containers with lids
• Weekly street sweeping
• Neighborhood and local beach clean-up events
• Long Beach businesses participating in regional programs (Adopt-a-Street and Adopt-a-Waterway)
• City’s implementation of catch-basin technology

Most common types of litter collected in Long Beach

• Cigarette butts
• Take-out food and beverage packaging
• Plastic bottles/packaging
• Glass containers
• Polystyrene (Styrofoam)
• Handbills and flyer advertisements

County of Los Angeles Five-Year Stormwater Public Education Study
(Target audience research)

• Neat Neighbors (50% of population)
• Fix-it Foul Ups (13% of population)
• Rubbish Rebels (9 % of population)
• Prove-it-to-me Polluters (5% of population)
• Preoccupied Polluters (3% of population)
• Non-Contributors (20% of population)

To facilitate the development of Campaign strategy and components, ESB conducted three professionally facilitated stakeholder workshops:

• City Department Directors Workshop, November 8, 2004
• Community Stakeholders Community Workshop, January 19, 2005
• Commission on Youth and Children, February 23, 2005

These Workshops helped structure a comprehensive litter-awareness campaign with four components:

Education and Outreach Component to focus on three audience segments (general awareness; elementary school outreach; and high school outreach)

Community Involvement Component to encourage involvement at both the community and regional levels by providing information on scheduled litter clean-up events as well as an online forum for posting neighborhood litter clean-up events

Partnerships Component to offer Long Beach businesses five different “Litter-free Partners” sponsorship opportunities

Enforcement Component to educate residents about existing municipal codes and state laws as well as fines and penalties relating to littering, illegal dumping and scavenging of recyclables

Campaign efforts continue to be reviewed and assessed on a quaterly basis.

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