Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

Despite the cool and rainy weather 20 people came out for the first annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup on Sunday the 28th. Folks spread out from the Pinawa Sailing and Rowing club and covered the shore from the diversion dam to the campground. The Cann's and Westdal's canoed to the little islands just offshore and Captain Keith Reid in A2 led an expedition to Porcupine Island where a treasure trove of assorted junk was found. The good news is that our shoreline is quite clean. We only managed to fill 3 large trash bags and two recycling bags - not counting the 9 tires that wouldn't fit in the bags. We need to thank the people who don't wait for a special day to pick up litter as they walk their dog or exercise along the trails. The bad news is that we did find a bewildering variety of trash, a lot of it related to "recreation". We can do better than this Pinawa. The "Antiques Roadshow" award goes to John Trueman who scored a very cool old patent medicine bottle in pristine condition. Statistics from the event were sent to the Vancouver Aquarium who collate our data and add it it to International Coastal Cleanup information. TD Bank supplied t-shirts, gloves and bags and the Pinawa Christian Fellowship was very pleased to host the event and to provide a campfire with hot chocolate and marshmallows for the workers.
So, what did we find?
2 paper Bags
36 plastic bags
7 Cups, plates, forks, knives, spoons
25 Food wrappers/containers
2 Beverage bottles (plastic)
15 Beverage bottles (glass)
55 Beverage cans
1 Shotgun shell
10 Caps, lids
13 Straws, stirrers
5 Clothing, shoes (a pink flip-flop!)
3 Toys (Golf balls!)
2 Bait containers/packaging
1 Oil/lube bottle
1 Plastic tarps
5 Fishing line
2 Rope
7 Fishing lures/light sticks
1 Strapping band
118 Cigarette/cigarette filters
2 Cigar tips
3 Tobacco packaging/wrappers
3 Cars/car parts
1 55-gal. drum
9 Building materials (pieces of lumber / docks)
9 Tires
1 tampon applicator
17 chunks of Styrofoam insulation / dock flotation
1 lid from a town garbage container (in the river)