Cleaning Up the Inland Empire - How San Bernardino is leading by example
By Daniel Graham and Gerardo Lopez
San Bernardino used to be the nation’s filthiest city, beating out massive city centers such as New York and Los Angeles -- which most people would expect to be far more filthy. More than 4,000 warehouses currently occupy over one billion square feet of land and require more than 600 thousand trucks to be active in the area. State legislators have begun restricting new developments in the area in an effort to preserve the surrounding environments and communities. Due to the efforts of Caltrans and state legislators, the city of San Bernardino is now one of the first 30 cities in the state to earn a “Clean California” designation.
Efforts to clean up the city and the surrounding communities were initially met with resistance from business leaders. They claimed that new restrictions would impede on the industrial economy and signal to potential investors that “California is not a job-friendly state,” according to Paul Granillo, president and CEO of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership.
Despite this, San Bernardino leaders worked alongside local businesses, the community and Caltrans to transform the city into a “Clean California Community” this year. Community cleanup events, free dump days and a new system to measure cleanup progress helped transform the city’s unused public spaces into ones rich in art and culture, much like the recently-transformed Sole-Alley.
The historically-neglected alley has been given a new life as a center for "arts, music, cultural, and educational events", per the city's newsflash following the reopening of the alley. San Bernardino Mayor, Helen Tran, said, "This project represents more than just murals or public space. It represents collaboration, creativity, and community pride."
A major part of San Bernardino’s turnaround came from the coordinated efforts led by Realicore co-founder David Friedman, who helped organize downtown businesses, nonprofits, and residents toward meeting Clean California standards. Beginning in 2021, the city partnered with local groups to secure more than $700,000 in state funding through the Clean California initiative, which has supported upgrades such as public art, lighting, landscaping and additional maintenance in the downtown area. Community teams worked to meet the taste benchmarks required for designation, ranging from hosting multiple cleanups to creating public education programs, and all collaboration helped shift public perception by showing that local organizations and residents were committed to long-term improvements. These efforts also positioned the city to receive continued access to state grants, visibility, and support for future beautification work.
Recent waste-management data shows that San Bernardino County still struggles with rising waste levels despite cleanup improvements. According to the county’s environmental indicators, solid waste disposal has flattened but continues to inch upward, rising 4% in 2021, 0% in 2022, and 1% in 2023, reaching 2.36 million tons of discarded waste, which is the highest level in nearly twenty years. Over the last decade, waste disposal has climbed 55%, even though the population grew only 4%, demonstrating that “economic factors and waste diversion programs are the primary drivers behind the amount of waste disposed of.” This context highlights why local cleanup efforts are essential, even as the region earns recognition like the “Clean California” designation.
Less than 30 miles away, community members in Upland, CA. have undertaken their own cleanup efforts. Litter Free Upland, a public benefit non-profit that began this year has already picked up 1.75 tons of trash with their team of 75 volunteers. Their mission, according to their website, is “to beautify the city of Upland through volunteerism and acts of civic pride.”
One of the biggest struggles they face is “getting people enthusiastic about trash,” says Joshua Day, founder of Litter Free Upland. “Once they put a face to [the trash] they start to take a little more pride in cleaning up after themselves.”
Despite initial difficulties with getting people on board, Joshua says that they now have people from neighboring cities reaching out and asking for help in setting up their own local cleanups.
“We are always open to show people what they need to do to get started,” says Stacy De Losh, co-founder of the organization. “We’ve even discussed creating a ‘starter package’ so that we can provide them with the basics.”
Both Day and De Losh are longtime residents of the area and began Litter Free Upland as a way to give back to their community. Day said that he was “cleaning up and down” a trail when he met De Losh and that it was “all they needed” to begin working on a Facebook group with the purpose of gathering like-minded people that wanted to clean up the community.
“Yeah, you could do a street sweep, but there’s a lot of stuff in the bushes, a lot of stuff in the waterways and the gutters that are not getting accessed.”
With support from the Upland city council and businesses like Sprouts, Walmart and T&G Roofing, Litter Free Upland is able to expand their operations to one-day satisfy the requirements to earn a “Clean California” designation.
Public transportation has also become part of San Bernardino’s fight against litter. Omnitrans’ “Adopt-A-Stop” program relies on volunteers to help maintain cleanliness at more than 2,500 bus stops throughout San Bernardino Valley. Groups commit to weekly litter pickup for a year, while businesses can also sponsor amenities or cleaning services. These efforts have helped reduce strain on maintenance crews and strengthened local pride in neighborhoods heavily impacted by traffic and industrial development.
Ultimately, San Bernardino’s push to maintain a cleaner city goes beyond surface-level improvements and relies on shared responsibility between the city and its residents. By enforcing strict penalties for illegal dumping while also providing accessible alternatives such as free bulky-item pickups, Community Dump Days and county disposal sites, the city is making it clear that keeping public spaces clean is both expected and achievable.
These efforts not only help prevent trash from returning to streets and neighborhoods but also protect the progress San Bernardino has made in reshaping pride in the community and inspire surrounding communities to do the same.