A project funded by the federal government to clean up coastlines off Vancouver Island is “just touching the surface” of how much cleanup needs to be done.
That’s from Cathy Kaardal of the Campbell River Association of Tour Operators. The group was a part of the Clean Coast, Clean Waters initiative for the second time. This year, they managed to clean up over 38 tonnes of material from the islands North of Campbell River including Phillips Arm, Jackson Bay and East and West Thurlow Islands.
It comprised around 350 km of coastline, and materials collected included over 15 tonnes of steel, five tonnes of tires and nearly three tonnes of rope.
However, the item of most concern was polystyrene. The group of 12 collected over four tonnes of polystyrene over the 72 days at sea cleaning up. Kaardal says this is most concerning because of the way the material breaks down.
“That had the greatest mass by far, even though it wasn’t the greatest weight obviously, but it was everywhere, either broken down because it had been there for years or still in large forms,” said Kaardal.
“Polystyrene starts to get aqua botanicals and other seaweed-type things growing inside it. When that starts to happen, the wildlife – particularly birds and smaller fish – can’t tell the difference [between it and food] because it smells the same.”
Kaardal says the next most scary item they found was a rope from netting because they are made out of plastic and behaves similarly to polystyrene. She adds it gets wrapped around logs, animals and rocks when storms push the debris into these channels.
In all, Kaardal says the 38,000 kilos of trash was removed from the environment and around 80 per cent of it was upcycled into new products. However, she adds it barely made a dent in what is out there in the environment.
“There’s lots, lots more. The tires are really concerning and it’s amazing how many people think that these things are fine to just throw in the water,” said Kaardal. “If it’s going to break down, and it breaks down in the water, it’s a problem.
“The tires that are just too heavy for what we had are still there and it would be a different project to go back and get them.”
She adds the $2 million in funding that has been provided by the federal government has been injected back into the Campbell River community since 2021. Kaardal asks you to do your part in cleaning up the coastline and doing your best to keep it that way.
“Clean it up, take it with you. If see other stuff, take it with you,” said Kaardal. “You’re out there because you love it because it’s a beautiful pristine area with the wildlife but it’s not going to stay that way if you keep dumping on it.”
