LESS GARBAGE
Cleanup crew seeing less garbage than in previous years on beach
Cleanup crew seeing less garbage than in previous years on beach after cleanup in the Alberton area.
Staff with the Cascumpec Bay Watershed Association gathered hundreds of pounds of garbage from a stretch of beach near Alberton recently.
And, there’s some good news in that, said CBWA co-ordinator, John Lane.
That’s less garbage than they collected in similar sweeps for the last two years.
“It’s a good year,” he said before adding, “We look forward to the day we can pick up only one bagful, not a trailer full.”
A crew of five gathered the debris from a six-to-seven-kilometre stretch of beach extending from Alberton harbour to the gap near Jacques Cartier Provincial Park in Kildare. They still had another four or five kilometres to go.
Their most interesting find was the remains of an old boat, almost completely buried in the sand. Lane suggested the boat was quite old as the planks were held in place by wooden dowels. Obviously, not something they could carry back so they left it there.
Although finding less garbage was encouraging, Lane said there were still things of concern, like netting and discarded bait bags that are dangerous to habitat.
Not a single oil container was found this year. “That’s encouraging,” Lane admitted. Garbage like plastic bottles and cans were found in the tide wash while buoys, mesh and other debris was found further up the beach.