Shoreline Cleanup

Shoreline cleanup is an integral activity of the Moncton team. We organized two cleanup events last September and April on the Petitcodiac Riverbanks, where we also invited residents and volunteers to come and join us.

The section that we cleaned.

Preparation

As for the event last September, we gathered in person at Centennial park to plan and delegate tasks. These are the core roles that we had for this event:

• Zone leaders: manage and oversee a designated cleanup zone. Provide extra garbage bags. Answer questions.

• Volunteer check-in team: Greet volunteers, guests who attend the event. Hand out consent forms for them to fill out. Provide supplies, such as masks, hand sanitizers, and gloves.

• Waste trackers: Record waste items on the tracking sheet.

• Health monitors: Offer water bottles, sunscreen, and bug spray.

• Appreciation officers: prepare thank-you cards for the volunteers.

In my opinion, the planning process is extremely crucial in order to run this event smoothly as there are so many tasks and roles involved. I was the zone leader as well as the volunteer check-in team, so I noticed that our events were successful because of our well-developed plan. Also, I accumulated a lot of experience, particularly in terms of leading an event.

Some tips my YLSs have told me are:

• Choose a date, time, and location.

• Check the weather in advance.

• Set up a meeting point with flags or banners for the volunteers to recognize.

• Wear team uniforms to be different from the volunteers. For us, we wore our shirts, and name tags.

• Ask the volunteers to wear comfortable outfits which they don't mind getting dirty.

• Prepare enough consent forms and supplies.

Check out all the resources to lead a successful cleanup here: https://shorelinecleanup.ca/

Cleanup day

Both cleanups took place on the Petitcodiac River and lasted for 3 hours, from 10 AM to 1 PM. Last September, roughly 10 residents attended the cleanup with us, but this figure climbed up to around 20 this year, and as the result, the amount of waste we collected also increased.

In the beginning, we introduced briefly the purpose of the event as well as how it was going to work. Most importantly, we asked our volunteers not to touch any unknown items, such as syringes, glass, and sharp objects, because we would report to the city about that afterward. Then, we handed out gloves and garbage bags to start the cleanup. Volunteers were also encouraged to bring their equipment.

Effects

Eventually, we brought everything that we had collected together to track the waste. The record shows that plastic cups, receipts, and cans were the items that people littered the most because a grocery store and a milk tea shop are nearby. As well, cigarettes and masks were all over the place. We found a lot of large and fun items, such as cardboard boxes and a mattress. Last year, we were able to collect 50 kg of waste. However, this year, we made a huge improvement as 120 kg of garbage was picked up even though we only cleaned a small section of the river.

Through this activity, we could see how polluted the environment is. This issue cannot be solved by short-term actions, instead, we should focus on raising awareness. The goal of our team is to make a difference for conservation; thus, we will carry out more and more projects to fulfill that.