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City launches Roseland trash pilot aiming to curb stormwater litter
Summary
Santa Rosa staff described a three-pronged pilot on Sebastopol Road in Roseland that will test outreach, increased street sweeping, and new trash infrastructure — including four solar compacting "Big Belly" cans — to reduce street litter that can enter the storm drain system under a state-mandated trash rule.
Santa Rosa City staff on Tuesday described a pilot program in Roseland designed to reduce street litter before it reaches the city’s storm drains, as required under a 2015 State Water Resources Control Board trash amendment.
The pilot will test a mix of outreach, enforcement of short-term parking to allow more effective street sweeping, and placement of new trash infrastructure along a 0.75-mile segment of Sebastopol Road from Roseland Avenue East to Olive Street. City staff plan to install four solar, self-compacting “Big Belly” trash cans, four traditional cans and a bilingual outreach campaign that includes art from Roseland and Sonoma County residents.
The pilot, presented by Nick Sidiano of Santa Rosa Water’s stormwater and creeks section, aims to reduce particles bigger than 5 millimeters — the size threshold in the state’s trash amendment — from entering storm drains. Sidiano described baseline visual trash assessments done in 2017 and said staff will repeat the online visual assessments after the pilot to measure reductions and inform a broader strategy to meet the state’s 2030 trash-reduction requirements.
City staff said they would split the pilot area into three subsegments and try different combinations of interventions in each: one segment will test all approaches, another will test two, and a third will test outreach only. Tactics include bi-monthly street sweeping in the pilot area, temporary no‑parking signs on long-term parking segments so sweepers can access curb-and-gutter areas, volunteer cleanups, and a QR code linking to streetstocreeks.org with tips for residents.
Councilmembers praised the plan’s community focus and the partnership with the Art and Public Places Committee. Vice Mayor Alvarez urged staff to reach out to the Roseland Business Organization for help with outreach; Councilmember Benuelos and public commenters urged targeted engagement of Roseland children for the pilot art program and frequent service of receptacles at bus stops and youth sites such as the Boys & Girls Club.
Sidiano acknowledged the higher initial cost of Big Belly cans but said anticipated maintenance savings and the behavioral changes the campaign seeks would offset those costs compared with installing structural storm-drain filters. Public comment recommended locating art created by Roseland students on the cans and increasing collection frequency.
Staff said the pilot will begin installing artwork in April with a community Earth Day activity on April 22; the pilot will run through May and June with pilot imagery removed in July. Data from the visual trash assessments will be used to evaluate effectiveness and to inform future implementation.
If the outreach-and‑infrastructure approach reduces litter substantially, staff said, the city could avoid the significantly higher costs of installing and maintaining storm-drain filters or inserts required if behavioral measures prove inadequate.
The presentation listed existing and prospective partners including the Boys & Girls Club, Roseland Community Building Initiative, Recology Sonoma Marin, RAICES Collective, Roseland schools, Sonoma County, Sonoma Water and neighboring cities, and the Art and Public Places Committee.
