A huge effort is underway in qathet region to remove tonnes of debris and refuse from the area’s beaches.
Let’s Talk Trash’s environmental consultants have procured a clean coast, clean waters initiative grant to hire a crew and the equipment needed to carry out the shoreline cleanup, which has been an ongoing project, for three years by qathet Regional District, and now, Let’s Talk Trash.
30 days of cleanup
Project supervisor Abby McLennan said in total, there are 30 days of cleanup scheduled.
“We’re looking to maximize shoreline kilometres, looking for debris in hotspot points, and basically collecting as much material as we can in that number of days,” said McLennan. “We have a depot team and a field ops team, and combined with qathet and Lasqueti Island, we’re around 20 people, and then there are contracted service providers as well.
Ocean plastic and styrofoam
“The field ops team does the field work, grabbing the material off the shorelines, and then we have vessel operators to help bring that material to a takeout point. The materials are then transported to the ocean plastic depot, where we have a team that weighs all the materials that come in and does the final sorting.”
McLennan said the recyclable material is loaded into transportation trailers that go to the recycling facility.
“Big picture-wise, we’re aiming to divert 60 to 70 per cent of the material we collect through recycling, or through local diversion,” said McLennan. “We’re recycling materials such as white styrofoam, foam-filled tires and regular tires that are not foam-filled, hard plastics, rope netting, plastic buoys and barrels. Anything we can’t divert goes into the construction and demolition stream.”
This is transported to landfill.
McLennan said field operations began on August 13. Planning started in May of this year, and became more extensive in July when it was known the grant to carry out the project had been secured. She said Let’s Talk Trash applied for the clean coast, clean waters initiative funding for the first time.
Clean coast, clean waters
In the previous three years, applications have been made under the Ocean Legacy Foundation, but this year, the maximum amount of funding was decreased, so Let’s Talk Trash applied for more lucrative funding through clean coast, clean waters.
“We have a well-oiled machine, being in our fourth year, and there’s a lot of key people who are familiar with the project,” said McLennan. “This is our fourth year in some locations, and in some of them, there has been more material accumulating than in years past. It’s definitely surprising what washes up each winter.”
Youth join cleanup
This year, Let’s Talk Trash has enlisted the services of youth to help with the beach cleanup. Skill sets require the workers to be fit, able to work in all weather conditions, and comfortable working on and around the water.
Dedicated crew
“We do have a lot of returning people,” said McLennan. “A lot of people really enjoy the work, so there’s not a lot of vacant spots when the season starts.”
McLennan estimates that 50,000 kilograms of waste will be retrieved from shorelines during this year’s collection.
“I’m hoping to get over that but that’s what we stated as our target in our application,” said McLennan.”
Removing harmful materials from the marine environment
One of the big parts of the collection, volume-wise, is styrofoam. McLennan said that even though it is a lightweight material, it’s expected there will be upward of 3,000 kilograms of it picked up. She said environmental organizations are working to get it out of the marine environment. It’s difficult to pick up once it starts breaking apart, but this year, the team has been using a specialized piece of equipment to suck up the styrofoam nurdles.
“It looks like a Ghostbuster vacuum,” said assistant project manager Kyle Watters.
McLennan said on Texada Island, there are rocky crevices where nurdles are knee to thigh deep, which is “really disheartening to see.”
When all the recyclables are collected and loaded up, they travel to a depot in Steveston Harbour, in Richmond. McLennan said it’s a cool facility and the only organization or facility in Canada that accepts marine debris for recycling.
Pristine beaches polluted
Beach collection is scheduled to wrap up on September 13, but McLennan said management of the project will be going on until the end of September, with the project making a real difference throughout qathet region, beautifying local beaches. She said she hears feedback from the field ops crews, who can get discouraged to see some really pristine beaches polluted. However, they are providing actionable solutions, she said, and the work they are doing in the environment is rewarding.
Watters said that this year, there has been collaboration with Tla’amin Nation and Klahoose First Nation, with people coming out to help clean up the beaches.
“We’ve also collaborated with one of the Tla’amin youth groups as well, with them coming out for a day and helping clean-up, which was really awesome,” added Watters.
Some comments McLennan received from the Tla’amin youth included one individual saying they would do it again, and that they really got into looking for garbage and having the opportunity to connect with peers outside of day-to-day activities.
McLennan said cultural monitors have also worked with the project. There was a specialized shoreline archaeology training session offered to project workers.
“There are many Indigenous sites along the coast that are not registered, and becoming aware of what these look like gives us the ability to report them and potentially have them become registered sites,” said McLennan. “It’s paramount for our field operations to have the support of First Nation governments in the areas we work, in addition to federal, provincial, municipal and regional government support for authorizations and any required permits.
“We hope to see the continuation of the clean coast, clean waters initiative that makes this important work possible. Without this funding, it is very unlikely any of this work would be happening.”
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