VIDEO – Over 100 Henderson Elementary School students and Brooks Secondary School international students scoured Townsite Friday afternoon, April 26, picking up trash and doing their part for Earth week.
Powell River Regional District’s Let’s Talk Trash team had organized its Trash Bash, an annual volunteer garbage pickup event, for Saturday, April 27. Over 140 people turned out to that event and organizers estimate that between garbage picked up previous to the event and trash picked up on Saturday, about 12.24 tonnes of illegally dumped trash were removed from the Powell River area. Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps of Powell River helped out again this year to unload the trash.
Math teacher Annita Molenaar decided that she would organize a Henderson event for the day before. “It’s difficult for our students to take part in the Trash Bash because it’s on Saturday,” said Molenaar.
Last week was also Pitch-in Canada week which encourages people to give back to the community.
Students scoured the Henderson grounds first and then branched out in squads along Laburnum, Marine, Willow and Maple avenues moving toward the Patricia Theatre picking up any trash they could spot.
“When I put all the garbage together into the big black garbage bags, we had seven of them,” Molenaar said.
Students walked around the neighbourhood with smaller green bags and picked up all the “bits of plastic” on the ground and then put it all together.
On Saturday, Molenaar took the seven bags to the Trash Bash and added them in with that event’s garbage.
“I thought if we organize it through Henderson, then all the students have the chance to participate,” she said. “They really enjoyed it and they were all proud.”
Molenaar said that this was not a new experience for the students. “There’s ongoing recycling and composting at the school all year,” she said. “It’s not just one week.”
