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P.A. group works to clean up illegal garbage

Jun 25, 2016 | 4:23 PM

A group of volunteers are determined to keep the city clean, one piece of garbage at a time.

Keep Prince Albert and Area Beautiful hosted an all-day volunteer clean-up event Saturday, June 25 to clean up illegal dumping sites around the city.

Fifteen to 25 volunteers came out to the event, and scattered across 20 sites for the project.  

Stan Sutor, a member of the group, spent the day with his son Nate, cleaning up the forests on the outskirts of Prince Albert.

Sutor said some people choose not dispose of their waste correctly, which can have dire consequences for the environment.

“A lot of times the landfill fees are a deterrent for people to go to the proper landfill facilities, but a lot of times it’s laziness and it’s just convenient to dump in the forest and that’s just not acceptable, we want to protect the environment and keep it clean and make sure we have no contaminants in the environment,” he said.

Sutor said he has seen lots of different types of waste being dumped, from toxic products such as used oil and anti-freeze, to discarded beds and propane tanks.

He said since the project commenced last year, over 34,000 kg of waste has been collected at 80 sites in and around the city.

He said he believes the group’s efforts are paying off.

“I went back to those sites and very little garbage has re-accumulated so I think we are making some progress and I’m hoping we will keep the momentum going and more public engagement would be nice,” he said.

Charlene Tebbutt helped organize the cleanup and said fixing up the sites has many benefits.

“It is important to keep our areas clean and free of debris, it also is important in terms of the environment and wildlife. It’s always nice to see a clean area rather than it being used as a garbage site,” she said.

The group plans to have another clean-up in September.

 

julietkadzviti@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @julietkadzviti