MANITOULIN—This year’s third annual Island Wide Garbage Cleanup event was another resounding success with 270 bags of garbage removed by 623 people across 149 kilometres of roadside, streams, shorelines and hiking trails, according to information provided by Liam Campbell of the Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association (MSIA).
“I personally would like to thank everyone that helped contribute toward the Island-wide garbage cleanup and those that rallied and cheered on our community members,” said MSIA coordinator Seija Deschenes. “We started this cleanup event a couple of years ago during the pandemic as we noticed an increase in garbage and plastic waste as well as masks along our roadsides, ditches and waterways. Micro-plastics are becoming a huge issue that impact terrestrial and aquatic species as well as human health.”
“At times it felt overwhelming as Manitoulin Island is a large land base surrounded by water and I felt we needed to acknowledge the issue and engage our community members to take action and reduce garbage and plastic from building up and impacting the land and water that surround us,” said Ms. Deschenes. “At that time, we could only participate in outdoor activities with family members, and this seemed like the appropriate time to create some positive changes and reduce the impact to our environment.”
Mr. Campbell explained, “Dedicated individuals from 10 different municipalities and First Nations on and around Manitoulin Island participated in this year’s event. Several individuals of note are Jordyn Green and Brooklyn Macpherson of NEMI township who went out over 13 days to collect garbage, earning them the title of this year’s ‘Garbage Cleanup Heroes.’”
Assiginack Public School took first place in the School Cleanup Award, collecting 38 bags of garbage. Wasse-Abin Pontiac School was second, collecting 29 bags of garbage, while Central Manitoulin Public School was third with 28 bags of garbage collected.
Jordyn Green and Brooklyn Macpherson won the ‘Tallest Cup Stack’ award having collected a total of 109 cups.
The ‘Community Cleanup’ award went to the Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands (NEMI), with 31 people having collected 70 bags of garbage. In second place was the municipality of Central Manitoulin with 55 bags of garbage collected by 138 people. Third place went to Assiginack township, which saw 145 people collect 48 bags. Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory was fourth, with 150 people collecting 39 bags of garbage. Gore Bay/Gordon Barrie Island was fifth with 140 people having collected 19 bags of garbage. Burpee and Mills Township was sixth with four people collecting 14 bags of garbage.
Taking first place in the ‘Business Cleanup Award’ was the Little Current United Church whose parishioners collected 14 bags of garbage. Harbor Vue Marina in NEMI was second with five bags of garbage while third place went to Kenjgewin Teg based in M’Chigeeng First Nation which collected one bag of garbage.
The ‘Garb-Age-Gap’ award went to Ralph Harris, 97 years old and his great-granddaughter, Rachel Quackenbush, who is 11.
“Prizes for this year’s event were generously donated by Ramakko’s Source for Adventure, Breakaway Sports, Manitowaning and Little Current Loco Beanz and Fishful Thinking Art. Thank you to these businesses for their support and thank you to everyone who participated this year,” said Mr. Campbell.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” said Ms. Deschenes. “This quote resonated with me, and I started getting my family members to clean up our road and highway near where we live. It feels so encouraging to see so many community members get involved this year!”
“Yes, it is disheartening to see garbage and plastic waste throughout Manitoulin Island as it raises concerns of people throwing garbage out their car windows, highlights the amount of drinking and driving taking place and how we as landowners go to the dump and are not securing our loads of garbage properly. However, inaction and not being part of the solution and educating the public about these issues will not solve the problem either. So, at this time I’d like to send a huge thank you, miigwetch, merci to all the champions of our communities for actively being part of the solution in reducing garbage and plastic waste and protecting beautiful Manitoulin Island.”
Mr. Campbell added, “If anyone is still out collecting trash and would like to be recognized on our social media accounts, they can still send us their photos to liam.manitoulinstreams@gmail.com or by direct message to our Facebook and Instagram accounts.”
