Submitted by Peninsula Bruce Trail Club
They are everywhere this summer – Peninsula Bruce Trail Club (PBTC) Community Scientists are collecting litter and data about litter found along the Bruce Trail and at Bruce Trail access points!
Armed with gloves, tongs and data sheets, volunteers and Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) Ambassadors collect, sort and categorize litter and submit the data about type, amount and location to BTC – along the entire Bruce Trail.
The BTC Hike It! Love It! Keep It Clean! project offers free online orientation and guidance to any trail user who would like to collect litter on the trail and contribute data about their findings. Trail user’s observations, experience and participation fosters collective action toward environmental conservation. For project description read more here – https://brucetrail.org/hike-it-love-it-keep-it-clean-litter-project/
By mid-summer, PBTC had collected almost 4,500 pieces of litter. Every item of litter that is removed from the Bruce Trail is either recycled, composted or added to the landfill collection.
Even cigarette butts! Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world – including the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula! At one local location one local volunteer recorded over 350 cigarette butts – within a meter of Georgian Bay – in 2 minutes. One cigarette butt contaminates 40 liters of water! What is on the land eventually ends up in the water.
PBTC butt collection is dried, boxed and sent to TerraCycle for further separation. Plastic found in cigarette filters can be recycled. Find more information about this free program here – https://www.terracycle.com/en-CA/brigades/cigarette-waste-en-ca#@51.790760252351404:-93.93222021874999zoom:4
Education and social norms change behaviour. If individuals, businesses and local government work together, we CAN make a difference!
To learn more about the Bruce Trail, Peninsula Bruce Trail Club or how to become a volunteer visit www.pbtc.ca or contact Marg Glendon at pbtcoutreach@gmail.com.
To learn more about PBTC hikes read more here: https://hikes.brucetrail.org/
