By:

Nadine |

British Columbia has some of the world’s most beautiful shorelines. We are fortunate to live in a place where our beaches and water are mostly clean, and we get to enjoy them with friends and family. Our shorelines are consistently cleaned up by volunteers from all over BC and led by professional organizations. Here’s a look at the organizations that lead these clean-up expeditions and how you can get involved.

Who helps clean up our shorelines?

It’s people like you! Organizing a shoreline clean-up day can be fun for the family, friends, schools, teams, or even your workplace. If you’re looking for an enriching activity that gives back to the planet, this may be just the activity for you and your group. Volunteers feel an immense sense of satisfaction knowing they’ve helped clean up a beach or shoreline for the public to enjoy and help wildlife thrive. Kids love these days as they soak up the fresh air and sunshine and usually find crabs or other little creatures!

How to get started

There are various shoreline clean-up organizations in British Columbia. While you can certainly grab gloves and a bag and go out on your own, teaming up with an organization means working with professionals that have all the gear, safety guidelines, and know which areas are most in need of your hard work.

Organizations such as Ocean Wise Shoreline Clean-Up, Sea Smart, and the Canadian Shoreline Clean-Up are all great resources to use when deciding when and how you’d like to volunteer. Many of these organizations provide training and safety guidelines to help make your day simple and safe.

What to do with what you’ve collected

You never know what you’ll find while scouring the shores. Jewellery, pirates’ treasure, or some regular old trash. Whatever it is, you’ll need a plan for how to dispose our your trash or divide the bounty you’ve found.

We suggest that you sort your findings as the day goes on. One bag for trash and one for recyclables. We’ll leave it up to you to decide what to do with your treasure! Then, when the day is done, you can put all the empties and drink containers in one bag and organize a Depozip pick-up. You can even set up a donation account for your chosen charity!

As we head into sunshine and summer activities, please keep this fun volunteer opportunity in mind. At Regional Recycle, we know that we have a generous and eco-conscious community, and we appreciate all that you do to help us protect our planet!