Bowen Community Cleanup Report

I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Community Clean-up this past weekend. It was amazing to see just how much garbage was in our ditches – beer cans and bottles, cigarette packages, plastic bags, styrofoam, shoes, a knee brace, and even a plastic chair were turned in. There were so many cigarette butts that I stopped picking them up after a while. In less than two city-sized blocks, I retrieved more than a flat of beer cans, several bottles and half a green garbage bag of non-recyclable garbage (on Grafton Road). You might not see this stuff while driving, but if you walk along the ditches and look down, there is a lot of garbage to be found. If you have the inclination to do a sweep on your own, the worst areas seem to be Grafton Road, Adams Road and Seniors Lane.

There were unfortunately, many competing events so we didn’t get the numbers that we would have liked. However those who showed up were enthusiastic and proved to have excellent garbage-gathering skills! It was nice to see our Mayor doing his part too. Next year we will try to hold this event in the spring before the ditches are overgrown. There is clearly a need for this type of clean-up. It didn’t take long to fill the back of a pick-up truck. With better participation, we should be able to fill several.

Special thank-you’s to Silvaine Zimmerman and Chris Buchanan from BIM, and to Dave McIntosh from Bowen Waste, all of whom contributed time and effort to the Clean-up. Much appreciated!

Brenda McLuhan