No less than 125 kilos of waste were removed from the banks of the Rivière-des-Milles-Îles park in Laval on Sunday, thanks to some thirty volunteers on foot, snorkeling or paddle board.
Posted at 5:24 p.m.
Tires, fences, lots of styrofoam and of course masks and surgical gloves: despite its appearance of cleanliness, the park was in dire need of a cleaning, according to the Blue Organization, the organization behind this chore .
“It’s the first time we’ve worked on this site so we suspected that there was a little work to do, but we’re always surprised by the large amounts of waste we find,” says his co-worker. -founder and marine biologist, Anne-Marie Asselin.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Small pieces of styrofoam found in the river
“The observation is that each time we mobilize, we find waste and that even in our nature reserves, there is work to be done. »
Pandemic trash
Founded in 2018, the Blue Organization organizes around 20 shoreline cleanup initiatives each year. Only this year, its volunteers were able to collect no less than three tons of rubbish, including two only in July, a record.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Cleanup of the park and the Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, in collaboration with Organization Bleue and several other partners.
“We find a lot this year of residues from the pandemic, masks, gloves, it is something that we did not see in past years”, explains Anne-Marie Asselin.
Thanks to the data it meticulously collects, the Blue Organization hopes to be able to carry out studies next year on the impact of ocean currents on the waste found on the shores of the province.