A Clean Start for the Lunar New Year at Home, on Our Roads and in Our Waterways

Lunar New Year has always been one of the most meaningful times of the year for my family. We gathered around the dinner table to enjoy traditional New Year dishes, walked vibrant night markets filled with festive decorations, and visited my grandparents on New Year’s Day to celebrate together. Those traditions made the season feel warm, hopeful and full of possibilities.

At the heart of Lunar New Year is the idea of renewal. We clean our homes to sweep away the old and make room for good fortune in the year ahead. It is a ritual passed down through generations to remind us fresh starts often begin with care, intention and responsibility.

Those values have stayed with me throughout my life. Today, they continue to guide my work at Caltrans, where I help lead the Clean California program and the department’s electric vehicle infrastructure. The outdoor spaces we share deserve the same care as our own homes.

When we take small steps to keep these places clean, we help protect our communities and the environment around us. Many people are surprised to learn how closely the cleanliness of our roads impacts our local waterways. When trash is left behind on streets or highways, it does not simply disappear. When it rains, litter is flushed into roadside storm drains, which carry water from streets, driveways and sidewalks directly into local creeks, rivers, and the ocean untreated.

What begins as a single plastic bottle or snack wrapper can quickly become pollution that harms wildlife, swimmers and water quality.

That is why everyday actions matter more than we might think. One simple habit that families can adopt is keeping a reusable bag in the car or backpack when traveling or visiting public spaces. It provides an easy place to collect snack wrappers, drink containers, or other waste until it can be properly disposed of at home. Multiplied by the number of drivers on California roads, this small step can help prevent thousands of pounds of litter from ending up on our roads and in our waterways.

Other simple actions that can keep our communities and waterways clean include picking up pet waste, safely using lawn and garden chemicals, and disposing of motor oil bottles and other debris before they leak into our waterways, especially during the rainy season.

For me, the spirit of Lunar New Year is about stewardship. Just as we prepare our homes for the year ahead, let’s extend that same care beyond our front doors. As families across California welcome the new year, I hope we can all embrace the tradition of a clean start at home, on our roads, and in our waterways so the year ahead begins with health, prosperity, and safeguarding future generations.

To learn more about improving California’s streams, rivers, lakes and coastal waters visit CleanWaterCA.com.

About Walter Yu
Walter Yu works for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as program director of Clean California and the department’s electric vehicle infrastructure. He was born in Hong Kong and moved with his family to Los Angeles, California when he was six. Since the Clean California program it began in 2021, Caltrans and its partners have removed more than 3.5 million cubic yards of trash from state roads and communities – enough to fill more than 150,000 residential garbage trucks.