Litter pickers collected two metric tonnes of trash along Jasper’s highways, June 4.
That equates to 2,000 kgs of garbage or 4,409.25 lbs.
Stewardship Day, which sees 100 Parks Canada and municipal staff hit the highways to collect trash, takes place annually during Environment Week and always turns up startling amounts of waste.
This year, beyond the sheer volume of cigarette butts, plastic bags, shredded tires and other discarded junk, there was also another startling discovery: a significant number of alcoholic beverage containers.
According to Janet Cooper, Jasper’s environmental stewardship coordinator and organizer of Stewardship Day, $430 worth of bottles were picked up along the way, and although some were pop cans and bottles, a large number were from alcoholic beverages.
The $430 went toward a barbecue for all of the litter pickers and their families. At the barbecue, everyone gathered to compare notes on the day’s weird finds.
Each year, Cooper hands out a prize for the strangest find. This year, that item was a burnt naked doll.
“It looked like something out of a horror movie,” said Cooper with a laugh. “It was actually horrifying.”
Other finds included women’s underwear and what appeared to be a large clump of human hair.
As well as collecting litter along the highways, this year’s special project was to clean up some old party sites along the Snaring River.
That effort was led by Parks Canada’s Kevin Gedling, who along with a group of helpers hauled out garbage big and small.
Environment Week activities carried on June 6 with the annual Round-Up of E Waste and Household Hazardous Waste, as well as the Community Shred-It event.
Nicole Veerman
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