By Joanne Rodgers,
Bruce Peninsula Press
On 22 August, enthusiastic volunteers attended a “Keep The Bruce Trail Clean & Green” Enviro-hike and Litter Pick Up at Lion’s Head Nature Reserve, hosted by the Peninsula Bruce Trail Club. The Club held a similar hike the previous day at Little Cove near Tobermory. The two hour hike was followed by a 30 minute Trash Talk cafe to discuss the type and quantity of trash collected and other green initiatives.
Hike organizer Marg Glendon welcomed all the volunteers and special guest Rochelle Byrne, Executive Director of A Greener Future. Glendon says Byrne has been a source of inspiration and that A Greener Future has been instrumental in offering organized training for the volunteers and providing guidance to the litter initiative program, “Keep the Bruce Trail Clean & Green”.
Pilot Project on Litter collection
The Peninsula Bruce Trail Club launched their pilot project “Keep the Bruce Trail Clean & Green” with the aim to learn more about litter on the Bruce Trail and Trail Access Points; to help keep the Bruce Trail clean; and to provide an opportunity to educate about trail etiquette, litter and the unique ecosystem of the area.
Project Partners team up on litter initiative
The project partners for the local litter initiative include A Greener Future, the Bruce Trail Conservancy, the Bruce Peninsula National Park, Keep The Bruce Clean & Green, Ontario Parks, Owen Sound Waste Watchers and the Peninsula Bruce Trail Club. Glendon says “Keep The Bruce Clean & Green has generously given us permission to add “Trail” to the project name, since we share common goals of litter education and protecting the environment.” The Municipality supported the project by providing parking passes for non-residents who participated in the events.
Hike led by interpretive guide from Ontario Parks
At the Lion’s Head Nature Reserve, the hike was led by Cate Crawford from MacGregor Point Provincial Park, who highlighted various trees, ferns, insects and ecological features. Crawford began the hike by reminding everyone to brush off their footwear as they enter and leave the trails to help stop the spread of invasive species.
Garbage collection and data analysis
Along the trail the hikers picked up garbage, learned about the area, got to know each other and asked questions about the litter initiative. Returning to McCurdy Parking lot, they sorted and counted the garbage and the local Litter Ambassador logged the findings through the on-line portal maintained by A Greener Future.
Byrne’s organization will analyze the data and provide a report to allow the Peninsula Club to plan future initiatives in response to the findings. Since the Litter Program started in June, over 15,000 pieces of garbage have been catalogued, currently 25% of garbage found on the trails are cigarette butts.
From this event, some of the many items collected included 1 piece of foam, 13 cigarette butts, 1 tobacco package, 3 plastic bags of dog poop, 36 food wrappers, 6 plastic water bottles, 5 soda cans, 19 pieces of waste such as wipes and tissues, 1 Tim Hortons coffee cup, 7 plastic bottle caps and 21 miscellaneous bags.
The litter program keeps the cigarette butts separate, which are then dried, counted and prepared for free shipping to TerraCycle for recycling. All other litter is sorted by garbage or recyclables and properly disposed of.
Participants talk trash
Following the Enviro-Hike, the volunteers gathered together for lunch and a Trash Talk Cafe. The Trash Talk Cafe provided an opportunity to share observations about the litter, any conversations which piqued interest on the trail and any lessons learned.
Rochelle Byrne shared her story, describing herself as an average person with no previous experience as an environmental advocate. She started to do shoreline cleanups on Lake Ontario and began to pay attention to the types of garbage. Of particular concern was the amount of tampon applicators she was finding. Doing more research she realised this was from raw sewage being flushed into the Lake. She feels if people knew what was going on, educated themselves, such practices would be forced to change.
Byrne paddles Lake Ontario to raise awareness
“A Greener Future” had to cancel their shoreline clean-ups in 2020 due to COVID-19. Instead Byrne decided to paddle-board from Kingston to Niagara, she called this experience an ‘eye-opener’ giving her another perspective from the water, seeing the algae bloom, dead fish and birds, stagnant shoreline areas and the garbage in the water. A documentary entitled “Shoreline” chronicles her 430 km paddle journey.
For more information on A Greener Future, please go to https://www.agreenerfuture.ca/
Byrne indicates she is pleased with the progress of the Litter Program on Northern Bruce and looks forward to doing it again next year. Glendon says people can join the litter initiative as individuals or as groups.
Two Enviro-Hikes scheduled for September
The Peninsula Bruce Trail Club has two Enviro-Hikes and Litter Pickups planned for this fall on 18 September at Little Cove and 19 September at Lion’s Head Provincial Nature Reserve.
For further information on the Litter initiatives and other Peninsula Bruce Trail Club projects, please contact Marg Glendon pbtcoutreach@gmail.com or visit the Peninsula Bruce Trail Club website at www.pbtc.ca
