A rubber “flying” pig was among the pounds of rubbish collected during the 2011 riverbank cleanup in Calgary.
About 2,000 volunteers spent a sunny Sunday picking up litter at the 44th Annual Pathway and River Cleanup.
The city co-ordinated the garbage collection around paths and major waterways including the Bow and Elbow rivers, Nose Creek and the Glenmore Reservoir.
“The objective of this cleanup is to raise awareness of environmental stewardship and the accumulation of litter in the city,” said Corrina Baxter, with Calgary Parks.
“It’s unfortunate we have to have the cleanup, but we do, and it’s great to have Calgarians to come out.”
A class on handling hazardous waste is mandatory. One group found a pellet gun.
The Calgary Police Service was called to deal with the firearm.
A knife was discovered on the Bow riverbed near 10th Street N.W. by Bob Brereton. A 28-year veteran of the cleanup, Brereton said he’s found many dangerous things while volunteering with the event, however, one hazardous item is disappearing from the rubbish piles.
“There are a lot less needles these days,” noted Brereton. “I think this is because there are lots of needle boxes along the river and people recognize they can throw them in there and so there’s a lot less along the river banks.”
Brereton added despite the fact that Calgarians are becoming increasingly aware of pollution in our waterways -litter still accumulates.
“There’s more garbage periodmore bigger things like bicycles in the river, Safeway carts, tires and stuff like that,” he claimed. “We should be doing this cleanup a couple times a year and not just once a year.”
The city spokesperson didn’t know how much litter was bagged this year, but 2010′s collection weighed in at 5,000 kg. Fifteen city trucks made the rounds to gather rubbish that Calgarians like Mariel Higuerey picked up.
“We found a few bottles for recycling,” said Higuerey, who was stationed at Carburn Park in the south east. “There was mostly cigarette butts and some trash.”
Higuerey’s group also found a tent that she called a weird find. Other strange items were four coconuts, a pair of cross-country skis, a vintage tin filled with antique buttons and a pink rubber pig stretched out in flight mode.
The Bantral team found the pig in North Glenmore Park and the item cleaned up in the city’s “most unusual find” contest. The pig will be dumped, but the city is keeping the buttons and also talking about taking photos in the future to record the cleanup’s interesting finds.
Sisters Chantel and Krysta Pascuzzo think if people respected the environment then there shouldn’t be a need for cleanup. However, they felt good about helping out Calgary and hope they set an example.
“People are so materialistic now,” noted Chantel. “They just want to be trendy so maybe we should start a new trend by picking up garbage.”
lstorry@calgaryherald.com
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Article source: http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/River+reveals+hidden+booty+during+this+year+cleanup/4708569/story.html
