From Press statement
Join Us for the Kick-off of the Cans4Books DesBorder Project
Cans4Books is thrilled to announce the launch of the Cans4Books DesBorder Project, a unique initiative that combines recycling, education, and art to tackle coastal waterways pollution and support the children of our communities. The project will kick off with a cleanup and whale launching event at 8 AM on August 3rd at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park in Point Loma, CA. We invite everyone to participate and help make a difference!
The Cans4Books DesBorder Project features a large migrating, whale receptacle made from mostly repurposed materials. The whale will serve as both a visual reminder of the environment we strive to protect and a practical tool for collecting CRV (California Refund Value) materials at various events and activities across the city.
Since its inception in 2020, Cans4Books has recycled over 10,000 pounds of aluminum cans and plastic bottles and donated over 8,000 children’s books to Little Free Libraries, local elementary schools, and community events.
How You Can Participate:
- Cleanup: Join us at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park to help clean up the coastline.
- Drive-Up Drop-Off: Can’t make it to the cleanup? Drive up and drop off your aluminum cans at the event. (Please note that glass or trash will not be accepted.)
- Join us in making a tangible impact on our environment and supporting the children in our communities. Together, we can create a cleaner, healthier future.
DesBorder is proud to be a 2024 World Design Capital endorsed community initiative. This recognition underscores our commitment to innovative design and impactful community projects.
Additional info
The DesBorder: Together for a Cleaner Environment project began with Tracy Dezenzo wanting to tackle our coastal waterway pollution in an artistic and creative way. When she found out that San Diego had won its bid to be the 2024 World Design Capital (WDC), she recognized it as an opportunity to have a worldwide platform to promote the idea and submitted a community-based proposal. Tracy envisioned the platform as a way to bring together many community leaders, members, and organizations for a beach cleanup.
Tracy’s initial idea was to have 2 sculptures that would double as recycling receptacles. One would be installed near Veterans Plaza in Ocean Beach and another sculpture in Tijuana. That is where the name, DesBorder emerged! And the unveiling of the 2 sculptures, in both locations, would include a same time, same day beach clean-up.
Tracy had seen images of sculptures doubling as recycling receptacles in other countries and seeing them in action was the spark for the idea. After the proposal was accepted by WDC, Tracy Dezenzo and Lunna Pitgatto from WDC began working out the logistics of doing the project as originally designed. Soon it became clearer that the initial concept was morphing into what it is now, a perfect collaboration between Tracy Dezenzo and Trisha Goolsby, CEO/Founder of Cans4Books.
The Cans4Books’ DesBorder project is now one sculpture that will migrate up and down our coastal communities to different cleanups, community events, and local schools. Our whale sculpture will be a traveling, visual reminder of what we are striving to protect. The project is both environmental and educational, in that it helps to protect our waterways and provide free, accessible books throughout our communities.
The whale shape choice came about organically. Tracy and her sculptor, Matt Nelson, took a look at some other sculptures and thought about different shapes: fish, starfish, peace symbol, etc. Eventually we decided that we wanted to make the shape simple and fun, yet practical, and make it easy to remove the recycling. We landed on a whale shape. From there, we were able to connect with SDSU students through Lunna Pigatto from WDC who were interested in working on the project. When we discussed it with them, they were keen on a whale shape too. The students, Matt, and Tracy took a field trip to a local scrap yard to see what kinds of reusable materials could be used and to spark some inspiration. Following the field trip, a couple of the students created sketches of the materials and concept. Matt selected the design that would work best for the project.
A whale is a perfect representation of the coastal waterways that we are protecting.
The whale will be built on a trailer to make it easier to migrate up and down our coastal communities following our August 3rd debut. Cans4Books will utilize this structure to bring awareness to partnered cleanup events, local festivals, school fundraisers for books, and other community events that would like to host the whale. Leading up to its debut, we are holding a name the whale contest, adding to its character and providing a platform to continue to share its migrating journey. After August 3rd, the whale will be officially adopted as a Cans4Books Community Program Project.
We do not have an end date for this project.
There are 3 goals to this project,
- Utilizing it as a CRV recycling receptacle to collect aluminum cans and single-use plastic bottles and to fundraise for free and accessible children’s books.
- Visual for environmental impact with keeping recycling out of our precious waterways.
- Bringing the community collective as one to show how our micro efforts make a macro impact when we work together.
Future Plans post Debut:
Migration to various partnered community cleanups
Utilized at our local community events such as Concerts on the Green, Summer Series, festivals, etc.
School Fundraisers; they can apply to host the whale for a week
Corporate sponsorship opportunities to sponsor the whale for a month and be able to provide a matching donations to the recycling
Continue to find collaborative ways to bring awareness to the pollution in our waterways especially along our border
You can find bios about our team on our websites https://desborder.org/ and Cans4Books at https://cans4books.org/. Please let us know if you need additional info.
Contact Information:
Tracy Dezenzo
Project Manager DesBorder
619-823-2692
info@desborder.org
Trisha Goolsby
CEO/Founder Cans4Books
703-407-5060
cans4books@gmail.com
Lunna Pigatto
World Design Capital
503-805-7246
lunnapigatto@gmail.com
