A dead frog, a car mat, an umbrella and hundreds of cigarette butts were among the items cleared out of a ditch earlier this month.
A group of 11 employees from ABC Recycling and Covanta set out two weeks ago to clean up the waterway surrounding the ABC Recycling plant on Meadow Avenue, south of Marine Way, as part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, according to Karen Bichin, community relations manager at ABC Recycling.
Bichin told the NOW the ditches surrounding ABC’s facility feed into Byrne Creek. For more than 10 years, employees at ABC have been doing their part to keep the water clean of debris and garbage, she added.
“It’s kind of unbelievable the amount of garbage,” Bichin said.
One of the Canadian Shoreline Cleanup requirements is to document and count every item collected during the event. Some of the most common discarded items included cigarette butts, more than 460 were picked up, and coffee cups, according to Bichin.
This is the 12th year ABC Recycling has taken part in the shoreline cleanup. In all, 75 pounds of trash was pulled from the waterway, Bichin said.
