Debris collected from shorelines in Salish Sea region

Workers have recovered nearly 77,000 kilograms of debris from shorelines in the central Salish Sea region.

According to senior project manager Abby McLennan, an environmental consultant with Let’s Talk Trash, in total, the project retrieved 76,910.70 kilograms, with a 53 per cent diversion rate, meaning just over half of the material collected ended up being recycled or upcycled locally in the community.

To make the project happen, Let's Talk Trash applied for and received $542,000 of funding to carry out shoreline marine debris cleanup efforts during the summer of 2024 through to the end of February 2025.

“We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the ministry of environment and climate change strategy,” stated McLennan in a written submission to the Peak. “Let's Talk Trash coordinated all the cleanup efforts and partnered with the Ocean Legacy Foundation for onboard training activities and administrative support.”

McLennan stated that the project was aiming for a higher diversion rate, but due to the increased number of docks they ended up addressing this season, that ended up making an impact on this figure. Close to 15,000 kilograms of wood waste was deconstructed from the docks and went to landfill, as it was wet and rotting, making it not salvageable for reuse.

“If there was a local composting facility, this could have potentially been diverted, as it was all untreated and unpainted wood,” stated McLennan.

She said the collection season started in August 2024, with the bulk of operations concluding at the end of October.

“We started with scouting various areas, planning, recruiting, training and then moving into field operations that involved the actual cleanup work,” added McLennan. “We target everything from large and challenging items, to small microplastics. Material is sorted in the field, then transported to various takeout locations. Divertible material eventually ends up at the qathet Community Ocean Plastic Depot, where everything is weighed and further sorted, and anything that can’t be diverted ends up heading to the landfill.”

McLennan stated that the project ended up with some remaining budget at the end of the planned season, so they regrouped in the new year and headed out for a few more days of winter shoreline cleaning.

“Our team included a qathet-based crew and a smaller crew based on Lasqueti Island,” stated McLennan. “Together, we covered 161 kilometres of coastline throughout the Salish Sea.” The bulk of what was diverted was able to be recycled through the Ocean Legacy Foundation.

“We also worked hard to deconstruct, salvage and sort to prioritize local re-use and upcycling opportunities that resulted in just over 13,000 kilograms of the material we collected finding a new life within the region,” added McLennan. “We try to ensure any redistributed items will be responsibly used so they won’t be found again on shorelines or dumped elsewhere.”

One of the main and most destructive materials the crew continues to find is flotation foam.

“We collected just over eight tonnes this season, and when you consider that it’s 90 per cent air, you can start to imagine the volume and just how much it takes to collect eight tonnes worth.”

McLennan stated that in total, 51 jobs were created and overall operations involved 21 local organizations, associations, community groups and businesses.

“We were happy to partner with the Ocean Legacy Foundation, who provided training for our crews at the beginning of the season and assistance throughout the project work,” added McLennan. “Overall, we’re counting this season of cleanup work a success and are thankful to all involved who contributed to this impactful work.”

McLennan stated that although the project made a substantial impact, each winter storm carries more debris and continues to litter the shorelines.

“While we wait for more stringent policies and regulations to come into place, we encourage everyone to pick up marine debris when you see it and either dispose of it, or bring it into the community ocean plastic depot.” 

According to Oceanne Bourque, supervisor, depot operations, for Ocean Legacy Foundation, the qathet depot is a collection and sorting facility dedicated to processing marine plastics and other recyclable materials. This initiative is a joint effort between Ocean Legacy Foundation and qathet Regional District, working together to reduce plastic pollution and promote circular economy solutions, stated Bourque.

Ocean Legacy collaborates with local organizations such as Let’s Talk Trash and other community-led initiatives to remove marine debris from shorelines and waterways, according to Bourque. Groups and individuals must email [email protected] in advance to coordinate a drop-off. If the drop-off is small, it can be taken to the main recycling facility at the new resource recovery centre, where Ocean Legacy has a designated super sac for collection.

The depot sorts and processes marine debris into the following categories: hard plastics, polystyrene foam, rope and netting, plus oyster baskets and aquaculture gear.

As for the last cleanup that took place in Lund Harbour, the Let’s Talk Trash team helped sort the retrieved material for diversion as a side project outside the scope of the shoreline funding activities. The contract for shoreline cleanup did not include dive activities, so the collection project was coordinated by Lund Harbour, which hired Desolation Dive Services and Deep Search Diving to extract items from the bottom of the harbour, which Let’s Talk Trash removed and transported to the resource recovery centre.

In total, 2927.20 kilograms of debris was retrieved from Lund Harbour. Of this, 1,280 kilograms went to landfill and 1,647,20 was recycled. The totals included more than one tonne of tires and 290 kilograms of old batteries, along with hard plastic, rope, beverage containers and metal.

Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.