The Isla Vista Community Services District hosted its annual post-Deltopia cleanup on April 5, yielding 372 pounds of trash. The gathered trash across I.V. was over 400 pounds fewer than last year.
The cleanup was a part of the Adopt a Block initiative within IVCSD. Nexus file photo
Soltopia, the alternative sanctioned event to Deltopia, is in response to the 72-hour noise ordinance proposed by the Isla Vista Foot Patrol. Isla Vista residents and community members experienced a decrease in the amount of trash in the neighborhood compared to previous years.
Soltopia was hosted in a central location in I.V., between Embarcadero del Mar and Embarcadero del Norte, which helped centralize waste and consolidate most trash to the zones of Soltopia.
The cleanup was a part of the Adopt a Block (AAB) initiative within the governing body. In prior years, Isla Vista Recreation and Park District (IVRPD) hosted the event, but Isla Vista Community Services District (IVCSD) recently took over the volunteer program.
Jenna Norton, IVCSD Public Works and Sustainability Director, organized the cleanup and helped coordinate the volunteers. In years prior, Deltopia brought many “out-of-towners” to the event along with a large amount of trash, which largely impacted the surrounding environment.
“Visually, it’s night and day because we had all of the trash can receptacles set up here [during Soltopia],” Norton said.
The 45 volunteers were gathering trash from the central event location as well as on Del Playa Drive and Sabado Tarde Road, according to Norton.
“Trash was generated, but it was not turned into litter,” she said.
According to Norton, during last year’s Deltopia cleanup, 61 volunteers collected 792 pounds of trash. This year’s cleanup saw 45 volunteers collect 372 pounds of trash.
Katherine Retzer, a fourth-year psychological & brain sciences major, volunteered at the cleanup for the first time this year.
“The change from Deltopia to Soltopia really encouraged me to help the community in my own way,” Retzer said.
The environmental impacts of events like Soltopia and Deltoipia are vast, especially in a small and dense community like I.V. On Feb. 24 the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors adopted changes to waste management in I.V. after 30 years. These changes aimed to reduce the amount of litter and “streamline waste management.”
“Overall, there was significantly less litter than in previous years. This of course does not account for how much waste was produced overall because it does not account for the trash that actually made it into trash cans,” Norton said. “However, given that Soltopia was a single, centralized event rather than multiple different house parties, I am quite confident that less waste was created overall.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the April 16 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
