On September 22, 2012 a crew of 19 BURNCO employees and their families descended upon Gibsons Marina to volunteer in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
According to the official Cleanup website, every year, tens of thousands of Canadians take action against aquatic debris by participating in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, presented by Loblaw Companies Limited. Jointly led by the Vancouver Aquarium and WWF, this initiative focuses on educating and empowering people to make a difference through community cleanup events. Today, the Shoreline Cleanup is one of the largest environmental events in Canada and the third largest cleanup in the world. Awareness and support for the program grows each year, dramatically increasing our impact as the public starts to better understand how shoreline litter adversely affects both aquatic life and people.
The BURNCO Crew organized the cleanup for Gibsons Harbour that stretched to either side of the marina, from the government dock to the breakwater. Upon first inspection, the shoreline looked quite clean, however, as we got in there we found a lot of debris.
Because we had some children on our crew, our tally numbers are lower than our actual amount collected as there were things being put into garbage bags that weren’t being accounted for. However, from what we did account, we tallied:
46 plastic bags, 37 beverage bottles, 11 glass beverage bottles, 54 beverage cans, 9 caps, lids, 6 clothing/shoes, 7 cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons, 35 food wrappers, 35 straws/stirrers, 6 toys, 4 bleach/cleaner bottles, 32 floats (styrofoam), 1 fishing line, 1 light bulb, 1 pallet, 30 plastic sheeting/tarps, 25 ropes, 3 strapping bands, 205 cigarette butts, 3 cigar tips, 2 batteries, 32 nails, 1 condom, 1 syringe, 3 feminine products, 13 metal pieces, 1 paint can
What was most evident was the amount of styrofoam that littered the coast, caught in grass and reeds and nestled between rocks in the breakwater. Styrofoam will not decompose thus the crew was happy to be able to remove it from our coastline.
Our crew enjoyed our beautiful and sunny day in Gibsons and will most certainly be interested in doing the same again next year for the 20th anniversary of the Shoreline Clean Up.