Now that the grounds have thawed and the air is calling you to explore the outdoors, you are probably finding yourself on local beaches, trails and in the spectacular backcountry surrounding Powell River.
If, in your explorations, you come across trash, you have a few options to help beautify this part of our collective backyard.
Litter is an eyesore, and dumpsites can even be toxic when paint cans, car tires and lead-acid batteries get in the mix. But whose job is it to clean it up?
We could point the finger in many directions, but ultimately, as Bill Nye the Science Guy says: “To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash.”
The cleanup could be as simple as bringing a small bag with you when you go on hikes and rambles, and filling it with the random litter you see along the way. This is a great way to model good care for the earth to the younger generation, and they are often keen to join in, and make it a kind of trash scavenger hunt. There is even a new hashtag movement: #trashtag, where people are taking before and after shots in trashed areas they clean up. Some are seeing it as their opportunity to make up for the times in their past when they were litterbugs themselves.
A newer phone app has also been getting attention. TrashOut allows people in the backcountry who spot trash sites to take photos, automatically GPS locating it onto the TrashOut map of sites in need of cleanup. They can describe the type of trash, and approximate amount, so folks looking to do a good deed can easily prepare for the pickup.
Apps like these come in especially handy for community cleanup events such as our annual Trash Bash. Hundreds of volunteers come together in this qathet Regional District-sponsored event, including dive teams, school kids, cadets, conservation officers, BC Ministry of Forests representatives, ATV club and residents.
You don’t have to wait until Trash Bash to get out there and do this feel-good deed for your community. Clean up illegally dumped trash anytime between now and the event on Saturday, May 4, and wait to bring it down to the Willingdon Beach gravel field for free disposal between 9:30 am and 3 pm on that day only.
Volunteers are rewarded with a locally sourced lunch and entered into a draw for great prizes from local businesses. To streamline the event, they have gone back to basics, collecting only illegally dumped trash, rather than also big bulky items from residents. The one exception is car tires.
Spring cleaning does not have to be relegated to inside your house. Get out there and bash some trash to love up this amazing community we all share.
To report an illegal dumper, call the RAPP line at 1.877.952.7277.
Let’s Talk Trash is qathet Regional District’s waste-reduction education program.
