By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: April 27, 2012
Sixteen cubic yards of garbage, eight grocery carts, several truck tires and 15 mattresses were just some of the waste items that volunteers collected to kick-start the Pitch-in week on Sunday, April. 22.
The volunteer effort was organised by Downtown Squamish BIA, Squamish Streamkeepers and Water Trail Action Group team.
Blind Channel waterfront between Winnipeg St and Cattermole Slough, Pemberton Avenue, Scott Crescent and Highway 99 intersection, the Cleveland Ave. entrance to downtown were some of the places the residents fanned out to collect waste.
Marnie Lett, Kelvin Mooney, Star Morris, Jack Cooley, Autumn Cramb, Derik Wells, Brian Davies, Jonn Matsen, Patrick McNamara, Doug Morrison, Brad Ray, Lyle Woods, Victor Drought, Scott Renyard, and Eric Andersen were those who took part in the initiative.
Another group of volunteers, led by Squamish Environment Society, collected waste from areas along the estuary, in partnership with Squamish Helping Hands.
A total 15 people collected about one-third of a large carney’s bin including thrown out couches, old tires, bagged yard waste (that could have been composted) from a “community” dump site on the old Buckerfields site.
“We also cleaned up some unused squats from the Estuary. Pots and pans, tarps, plastic, clothing and loads of mics,” said Meg Fellow.
Some other PITCH-IN Week Activities
Re-Use-It Fair: On Saturday April 28th, bring all your unwanted, usable items to Brennan Park from 9-3 p.m. Items such as furniture, appliances, toys, bikes and electronics can be dropped off and other residents’ items may be taken away for free.
Meanwhile, the Fastest Picker Challenge was organised on Wednesday, April 25th at 3:20 p.m. at Howe Sound Secondary School, and the winner was the District of Squamish.
PITCH-IN Week Community Clean Up Days
Squamish residents and community groups also took part in the “pitch in” during Community Clean up Days by adopting a street or area they worked together to clean up.
anonymous says
Keeping our community tidy is very impotant for our public image.
Please note that the pile you so happily pose by was actually cleaned up by
Mike Griffin….Sponsored by an un-named waterfront business owner.
Our commitment to a safe and clean town is year round.
Eric Andersen says
Hello Anonymous, the actual title of the photo I submitted reads: “Autumn Cramb and Derik Wells taking way too much credit”. This particular pile of shoreline campsite debris was indeed assembled here when our bin arrived for us to load it. We had earlier identified this and much more garbage material for clean-up in this area, in our proposal to the landowner, Westmana. Thanks!
Heather says
It saddens me that so many people in this community does not care about Squamish’s public image. I seem to be picking up small pieces of garbage every day in the downtown area – normally fast-food garbage disposed in public places. One doesn’t want to imagine what Squamish would look like without the dedication of the environmental group volunteers …..