The sunday Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup at Farrans point dike was a success. The section cleaned was .83 km along the south shoreline. This section of the Waterfront Trail is now free of shoreline waste. The total weight of material collected was 35.2 kg. The 3 photos below illustrate the relative material volumes of unsorted, sorted to material, and sorted for waste stream processing respectively. By far, the largest volume was plastic, primarily beverage containers, followed by plastic bags and film, and rigid or persistent plastic ( 1.3 kg or 8%, 6.8 kg or 13.7%- recyclable and non recyclable respectively). By weight, rubber led the recyclables, a single old tire comprised the total weight of that category ( 11.8 kg or 33.4%). Metal was second by weight, including beverage cans (7.2kg or 20.6%). Fibre, 4th by volume, consisted entirely of paper cups, almost entirely Tim Hortons cups; unfortunately the fact that these cups are recyclable is still not widely understood.The styrofoam category was a small percentage by weight, but significant in volume and consisted of angling worm/bait containers and expanded polystyrene. The waste component, material going to landfill, represented 13% of the material collected, recyclable materials represented 87%. In summary, the waste material collected consisted primarily of plastic, both in terms of recyclables (volume) and landfill garbage (weight) where it represented over 98%. These results are in line with results from similar cleanups conducted over the 2014 season along another section of the waterfront trail closer to Cornwall, as well as several shoreline sites within the Long Sault causeway/islands . Clearly, the relative volumes of material collected during 2014 indicate a pattern that should be addressed in waste management planning and implementation. The eastern Ontario section of the Waterfront trail is comprised of the most extensive off road, near shoreline, component of the entire trail system. Presently, these areas and other locations within the trail and park system are not receiving the appropriate level of waste management oversight activities required to prevent waste from entering the St Lawrence river.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:36:12 +0000