In a scant three hours, Calgary volunteers pulled more than 7,000 kilograms of assorted trash and recyclables out of the Bow River and city parks on Sunday, May 4 during the 41st annual Calgary Pathways & River Cleanup. More than 80 groups consisting of 1,600 volunteers participated in this year’s event, cleaning up the riverbanks of the Bow and Elbow rivers and Nose Creek Park.
Jacqui Allison, a first-time volunteer with the Running Room, was surprised by the amount of trash she’d found, saying she’d filled five garbage bags within the first half hour. Volunteers were asked to flag potentially dangerous items like used syringes and condoms for properly trained crews to collect.
According to Kevin Forster with the City of Calgary Parks Department, the event is an effort to educate the public on the huge amount of litter that gets tossed every year. “We’re trying to get citizens to take stewardship of their environment,” he says.
This year’s amount is on par with the average amount of trash collected annually, says Forster. Along with the 3,500 bags of small litter collected, volunteers pulled out an assortment of larger items including bikes, tires, street signs, living room furniture and a bar fridge.
