See you Sat., Apr 19!
Earth Day 2025 cleanup is on April 19. Meet at 9:30 AM at El Sobrante Library, 4191 Appian Way, and select a location to clean up with other volunteers. Bring your own hat or water bottle. You can bring or borrow equipment (grabbers, gloves, safety vests, buckets, bags, etc.) or bring your own to help pick up litter. Return equipment by noon or so and enjoy the program and company of other volunteers afterwards. Please volunteer for our Third Saturday street litter cleanup on May 17! Volunteers always needed, so please drop us an email.
Spread the word for Earth Day, April 19!
The ES MAC (Municipal Advisory Council) meets Wednesday, April 9, at 7 PM at the ES Library. Be there for all the updates and to share your ideas. You can also attend by zoom.
Since it’s the “rainy season” and our storm drains and creeks flow to the ocean, we are asking folks to volunteer a few minutes at a time to adopt a storm drain to keep clear to prevent street flooding and help collect litter and trash around El Sobrante’s storm drains.
Have you noticed the improvements around town? Let’s keep the momentum rolling – Green Team 94803 can use as many volunteers as we can get! Can’t make it this time? Our following monthly Third Saturday Cleanup is Earth Day, April 19, 9:30 AM at El Sobrante Public Library, 4191 Appian Way. Can you help? Bring the whole family. We have the gear, all we need is you here!
Report illegal dumpers via Mobile Citizen App.
Green Team 94803 is El Sobrante’s Organization of the Year, 2024-2025 and also serves Richmond. Green Team 94803 volunteers are working to maintain the big flower planters in Downtown El Sobrante, along San Pablo Dam Rd. We need sponsors and volunteers to water and tend to plants. Also, painting over graffiti, helping out other groups and volunteering for other fun, local projects. Email [email protected] if you can help us.
Who is Green Team 94803?
We are your neighbors and volunteers who want to Keep El Sobrante Clean and Beautiful and were voted local Organization of the Year for 2024-25. We meet on the Third Saturday every month at 10 AM at El Sobrante Public Library, 4191 Appian Way (email us about joining in) to go out and pick up litter. Our events are all free and always fun. You’ll do good and meet other great people, so come on down and be a part of the fun! This link takes you to a PDF of the postcard we made to promote our cleanups and educate people about how to get rid of stuff without dumping — can you help us distribute the message around town or sign up to help keep the momentum going? You can also join the clean up and beautification thread on NextDoor.
We have the info you need to get rid of stuff
Donate clothes and shoes. El Sobrante United Methodist Church gives away free clothing every second Saturday of the month. People can contact the church to drop off donations or come to the “Blessings Closet” on the 2nd Saturday from 10-1. 670 Appian WayEl Sobrante, CA 94801, 510-815-9816. For more info, send an email.
For 2025, Green Team 94803 has been honored as Organization of the Year by the El Sobrante Chamber of Commerce, and our own Teri Edlinger is its Citizen of the Year. Last year, GT94803 it was volunteer Ramon Viray. Green Team 94803 dedicated its Jan 18 litter cleanup to honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s Day of Service. We got a nice turnout, despite the absence of several of our regular volunteers. Earth Day cleanup event is April 19. Coastal Cleanup Day is Sep 20; Sobrante Stroll is Sep 21.
In 2024, GT94803 volunteer Ramon Viray was El Sobrante Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year. Earth Day was April 20. La informacion en Espanol, aqui. Almost 100 people came out to clean the streets and creeks at 9:30 AM followed by a community appreciation event featuring Asheba at 11:45 until 2. The Green Team 94803 and SPAWNERS sponsored a community-wide cleanup of our streets and creeks on Coastal Cleanup Day on Saturday, Sep 21, from 9:30 to noon. This is part of a national and international effort to cleanup and protect the bays and oceans from all the waste (especially plastic) that is causing harm. In 2024 it was on the Saturday after El Sobrante Stroll downtown and the day before the first El Sobrante Pride event in “Cheese Park.” With all the other goings on, we focussed on the cleanup, offering light snacks and gear but no library / community event, as we hosted in years past. Instead, we supported and participated at Pride Day, the next weekend.
In 2023, Green Team 94803 had a big cleanup victory in November, when illegal dumpers were seen using dump trucks to pollute the watershed. We used NextDoor to mobilize people and get the cleanup done. Thank you Supervisor John Gioia and EBMUD. The El Sobrante MAC Cleanup and Beautification Subcommittee held a meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 17, via Zoom or at the library, where we got an update about the SP Dam Rd. planter pots and the Artist Tree cannabis store / art gallery. We still don’t have a resolution to the lack of trash cans. CalTrans “El Sobrante Heroes” cleanup coming up, date TBA. Meanwhile, Ali posted some photos and video from our team at the 2023 El Sobrante Stroll and Parade. Do you have any photos to share?
Green Team 94803 provides this webpage with links and a calendar and has a working coalition with the SPAWNERS, C4GES, SOS! Richmond and other groups. Click here to get more involved, or just meet us at the El Sobrante Public Library any month. In March, we partnered with the Clean California campaign’s statewide effort to get rid of litter and illegal dumping.You are also welcome to join the monthly virtual El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council ESMAC Cleanup and Beautification Subcommittee Meetings to get updates on local, ongoing efforts and to brainstorm on how to handle the trash problem in our town. Special guest presentations TBA.
El Sobrante / Richmond 94803 has a number of other interesting groups. We encourage all our neighbors to become involved in the campaign to make our town a better place. If you do, you will connect with some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet! The Green Team’s Earth Day community cleanup was a big hit April 22 with well over 130 neighborhood volunteers. The library hosted an origami art installation, Earth Day book displays, landscape gardening, speakers, entertainment and other fun and educational activities!. Information en español Abril 22 Día de la Tierra! Green Team 94803 hosted our third California Coastal Cleanup Day Sept. 23, with SPAWNERS, the Library and SOS! Richmond. Aqui esta la information en Español.
Report a pile: 1-800-NO DUMPING (1-800-663-8674)
We have a beautiful little town. Sign up here to make it even better!
Keep El Sobrante 94803
Clean and Beautiful
Dear El Sobrante and Richmond Neighbors,
We love the El Sobrante area, which includes parts of unincorporated Contra Costa County and parts of the City of Richmond. However, the growing litter and illegal dumping problems here defiles the natural beauty of our commujnity and impacts our quality of life. It’s not only ugly – it’s bad for the environment and wildlife, attracts vermin and spreads disease.
We’ve had enough! We deserve better.
It’s up to all of us, our village, to do our part to Keep El Sobrante Clean and Beautiful. So please join us on National Cleanup Day and at our regular clean up events to launch an ongoing effort to clean and beautify our town.
– Green Team 94803
Email us for more information
- Report an Illegal Dump • 1-800 NO DUMPING
- Download the Mobile Citizen App, report dumps from your phone
- Get Rid of Stuff • Schedule a FREE large residential pickup from Republic Services: 510-262-7100
- Adopt a Road • Email Contact
- Get Paid to Clean Up
- Triangle Beautification
- 94803 Emergency Preparedness Alliance • Email contact
- See scenes from Sept. 18 Cleanup
- Learn about El Sobrante 94803
- Take things to El Cerrito Recycling Center
- Dispose of hazardous waste
- El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council
- El Sobrante General Plan for future development
More things to do
Businesses * Property Owners * Residents * Apartment Complexes * Schools * Places of Worship * Neighborhood Associations * Organizations * Anyone and Everyone can step up individually or form a team to do the following:
- Pick up litter when you see it (masks, gloves, fast food containers, plastic, wrappers, cigarette butts, large items, etc.)
- Clean up your property down to the streets and gutters, in your parking lots, on your block, or a trouble spot in your area.
- Adopt a spot you can clean up on a regular basis
Every day is a new chance for us to make a difference! You can help us keep El Sobrante beautiful. Here are some more ideas:
- Pull up weeds, plant some native, drought-resistant flowers to beautify
- Refresh the paint on your property that’s been an eyesore for a while
- Clean up grafitti
- Paint a mural (Warning: May need permits)
- Collect trash along the creek
Third Saturday roadside cleanup
On the Third Saturday each month, we pick target locations and fan out in teams. Meet at El Sobrante library parking lot at 10 AM, return equipment at noon. Or, pick your own spot and schedule.10 AM – Noon. El Sobrante Public Library, 4191 Appian Way. See sidebar calendar for upcoming dates. More info here.
Take pride in knowing that our community cares about keeping El Sobrante beautiful. Together we will make a difference!
Caltrans Reporting Form
Use the Caltrans Customer Service online reporting form to notify Caltrans of blight or dumping on State Freeways and state roads. It features a map to report the location of your concern. To set the marker on the site of your concern within the California State Highway System, click anywhere on the map or drag it. Otherwise, simply call 916-654-2852.
– The El Sobrante Green Team
Scenes from Sept. 18, 2021 Cleanup
