Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup
With a combined effort from Shawnigan Lake School's Environment Club and Service Club, the first few hundred meters of Shawnigan Creek, as it outflows from the lake, got its annual "once over." The School has been taking part in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup for a number of years now and this stretch of the creek continues to benefit. A quick comparison of some of the most abundant forms of litter collected from last year and this year seems to indicate that our behaviors contributing to littering on and around Shawnigan Lake have changed little:
144 plastic bags, 184 food packages, 73 plastic and paper cups, 120 recyclable beverage containers, 390 tobacco packaging, and 637 cigarette butts.
The most interesting find of the day was an unlabeled 1 L plastic bottle full of ammonia! Ouch! While last year one lucky member of the E-Club found a folded $100 bill in the bushes between the creek and the road, this year a $20 bill was found. Apparently it still pays to be GREEN!
Once again, Rev. Holland and I would like to congratulate all those who participated. Well done!
– Scott Noble
Photos by Stephen Lane