A couple years ago, we brought to your attention the work of Chris Jordan, an artist in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, WA), who helped us “put litter into perspective.” In particular we highlighted “Plastic Cups, 2008,” his piece on the number of plastic cups used during domestic flights in the USA.

Since then, he has worked on more  pieces relating to the “global mass culture” which he will release in a second book, “Running the Numbers II.” The image that caught my attention and the one which I wanted to highlight is called “Gyre, 2009.” In it, Jordan has recreated one of Hokusai’s most famous paintings, “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” using 2.4 million pieces of plastic. This number equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world’s oceans every hour. All of the plastic in the image was collected from the Pacific Ocean and the resulting image is approximately 8×11′ in size.

"Gyre, 2009" Photo courtesy of Chris Jordan

Here’s a closer look of the image:

A close-up of Mount Fuji from the whole image. Photo courtesy of Chris Jordan.

For more images from “Gyre, 2009,” check out his website, www.chrisjordan.com.

Before I end, I wanted to remind us that we can all make a difference. It might not be possible to fish every single piece of litter and garbage out of the ocean, but we can still do our part. Here are a few actions that we can take in 2010 to help ensure that the amount of plastic, litter and garbage that is found in our oceans  and waterways don’t continue to grow and expand:

• Properly dispose of your cigarette butts. When you’re out for a walk, take along a small metal or plastic container to hold your cigarette butts until you can dispose of them properly. The number one litter item found along shorelines around the world is cigarette butts.  Each discarded cigarette filter contains harmful chemicals that can leach into the environment or kill animals that ingest them.

• Put litter in its place. Most shoreline litter and marine debris starts out on land.  When throwing out trash, put it in a lidded container to help keep litter from finding its way to the shorelines and into the water.

• Recycle everything you can. In addition to the usual items that can be recycled (i.e. bottles, cans and newspapers), other items can also be recycled, such as batteries, electronics and packaging materials. Regularly check with your municipality to discover all the recycling options in your community.

• Don’t be a loser, be a re-user. Many new alternatives to single use items are readily available. Not only do they look stylish, but they help reduce the amount of garbage in landfill.  In addition to bringing your own reusable bag, mug or water bottle, next time you have a picnic or barbeque, leave the paper plates and plastic cutlery at home.  A permanent food container and your own cutlery is a great way to avoid disposable items and make the meal feel special.

• One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. Next time you’re cleaning up and clearing out unwanted items, look for ways to donate or sell them instead of throwing them into the garbage. Many local non-profit groups seek donations like toys, clothing, craft supplies, furniture, small appliances and many more items. You can also go online or to a consignment shop to sell or give away items.

• Less is more. Think before you buy. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need, it will just end up as trash. When you do make purchases, choose items that use less packaging and look for reusable items whenever possible. You’ll save money and the environment at the same time.

• Be part of the solution. Volunteer for and join shoreline cleanup programs like the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup which help remove litter before it enters the water.

First of all, we would like to say thank you to everyone who took part in the 2009 TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, we truly could not do this without the support of people like you from across Canada.

Glenbourn Belchers March (Halifax, NS)

Next, I would like to say that over the last year, we’ve been neglect in keeping this blog up to date and I’d like to apologize for this oversight. In 2009, we had been experimenting with new ways to support our site coordinators, other forms of social media and working with new ideas for events around shoreline litter and marine debris.

This year, our goal for this blog is to continue our original goal to scour the internet to find and compile interesting stories on shoreline litter,  marine debris and shoreline cleanups. We will do a brief recap of 2009 over the next few months interspersed between new and current items which you may find inspiring.

In the meantime, as we’re working furtively away to get the final report ready by February, here are some interesting stats from 2009.

• 56,916 Canadians registered to cleanup 1,568 sites.
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  Kitsilano Beach (Vancouver, BC) [Photo Courtesy of Kevin Jamieson, Cycle Studios

  Once the dust settled and data collection ended in October, some of the top items removed from shorelines across Canada were:

• Food wrappers & Containers
• Cups, Plates, Forks, Knives & Spoons
• Straws & Stirrers
• Caps & Lids
• Plastic bottles
• Glass bottles
• Beverage cans
• Plastic bags
• Paper bags
• Cigarette butts
• Cigar Tips
• Tobacco packaging & Wrappers

Some of the more unusual items:

• hair extensions
• Star Wars Light Saber
• plastic dinosaur
• Flintstones boxers
• curling iron
• refrigerator door
• desk
• mannequin dressed in a bathing suit
• leopard frog in a bottle (alive)
• message in a bottle, with the message ironically being: “PLEASE DON’T LITTER!”

Don’t forget to keep an eye on www.vanaqua.org/cleanup for the 2009 TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup and the latest news and updates for the program in 2010.

Today is Earth Day, and more than 6 million Canadians will participate by joining over 170 countries in events and projects addressing local environmental issues.  This is a day that provides individuals with the opportunity to take positive action and spread awareness about the environment. For more information, visit the Earth Day Canada website.

This September (19 – 27), you’ll also have the chance to show your commitment to our Earth by participating in the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup! Registration is open, so drop by tdgcsc.ca to register for a cleanup near you.

If you live in the Toronto Area, come drop by our booth at the upcoming Green Living Show (April 24 – 26).  We are booth #1727, just to the left of the main aisle.  As a special treat, please print off the below $2 off coupon or redeem online by entering the coupon code “20AD.”  Hope to see you there!

This week marks National Volunteer Week (April 19 – 25, 2009) and we’d like to extend a special THANK-YOU to everyone who has ever volunteered to participate in the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. We value everything that you do to make a positive impact on our shorelines. Every single cleanup makes a difference!

Please enjoy the below photo collage that offers a quick peek into the amazing work you do and the fun you have while doing it.

If you have not yet signed up for the 2009 TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, please visit www.tdgcsc.ca to register.

For more information on National Volunteer Week, visit the Volunteer Canada website.

Earlier this year a brief survey was conducted to find out what Canadians think about environmental action and the litter found along our beaches and shorelines. The results were released in August and… well… they spread like wildfire across the country. Here’s the news release that was sent out and some links to the stories that resulted from the news release talking about the cigarette butt and the plastic bag.

VS.

Plastic bags and cigarette butts: new data from TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup finds perception “butts” reality

Majority of Canadians (52%) are taking environmental action because it is “just something I do,” while one in five (20%) credit the media for inspiring them to be environmentally-friendly

TORONTO, August 20, 2008 — Nearly half of Canadians (49%) believe plastic bags are the number one pollutant on our shorelines according to new survey findings from the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, despite the fact cigarette butts are consistently the number one item recovered during the annual cleanup. The survey found only 18% of Canadians believe cigarette butts are the top culprit affecting our shorelines.

“Cigarette butts pose a significant danger to wildlife, yet for some reason many Canadians don’t think of them as litter,” said Eric Solomon, Vice President of Conservation, Research and Education, Vancouver Aquarium. During last year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, participants removed more than 270,000 cigarette butts from shorelines.

One of the largest annual shoreline cleanups in the world, over 50,000 Canadians participated in last year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup and this year organizers are hoping for 70,000 volunteers to help protect the environment and wildlife by removing garbage from our shorelines. Running from September 20-28, 2008 at more than 1,000 cleanup sites across the country, this national event invites volunteers to participate by removing harmful waste from around local ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.

“Canada is home to the world’s largest freshwater supply and yet keeping our waters safe and unspoiled is still not a priority for most Canadians,” said Roger St. Louis, Regional Manager, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. “We collected nearly 90 tonnes of garbage during last year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup – and unfortunately, we’ll recover even more this year.”

Help is on the way

Are Canadians walking the talk? The survey found that one in five (22%) Canadians say they’re volunteering on a monthly basis to make their community more environmentally-friendly, with BC and Alberta residents most likely to volunteer each month, at 34% each.

Besides volunteering, more than half (58%) of Canadians say they are taking deliberate action to reduce their impact on the environment by disposing of waste properly and recycling. Canadians 55 and over are the country’s most active recyclers (69%) compared to less than half (46%) of Canadians aged 18-34. Regionally, residents of Manitoba and Saskatchewan (70%) are the most likely to recycle and dispose of waste properly.

Canadians say they are also reducing energy consumption by turning off lights and electronics (16%) and driving less (12%). However, only 7% of Canadians say they are purchasing products with less packaging and only 4% are buying organic/locally grown foods.

“Half of Canadians say they’re being environmentally-friendly because it’s ‘just something they do’,” reported Solomon. “Cleary Canadians have the environment on their minds and many are taking personal action to make a difference. The TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a great way to get started.”

Top Environmental Issues

When asked to rank environmental issues facing Canada in order of importance:

- More than one third (37%) of Canadians say that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is their top environmental concern;

- One in four (25%) say improving air quality is their most pressing environmental issue; in Ontario 31% say it is a crucial issue;

- Twenty per cent of Canadians feel that conserving our forest, protecting our wildlife and creating more parks and green spaces is a priority;

- Sixteen per cent of Canadians say that our shorelines are an environmental priority with Maritimers and Albertans (23% each) placing the most emphasis on our shores.

“We’re celebrating the 15^th anniversary of the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup – a perfect occasion to inspire and unite Canadians to take action and help clean up our lakes, rivers and streams,” continued St. Louis. “We can make a difference together to ensure our shorelines are both safe for plants and animals and beautiful to enjoy for future generations.”

About the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

TD Bank Financial Group has been a proud sponsor of the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program, through its TD Friends of the Environment Foundation for more than 12 years. In 2007, a record-breaking 50,000 volunteers participated in the national cleanup and removed 87,489 kilograms of garbage from 1,240 sites spanning a collective distance of 1,772 kilometres. Now in its 15^th year, this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup takes place from September 20-28, 2008. To register, visit www.vanaqua.org/cleanup.

About the Survey

The TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup survey was conducted by Angus Reid Strategies on June 26, 2008 among a randomly selected, representative sample of 1,007 Canadians 18+. The maximum margin of error is +/- 3.1% 19 times out of 20.

A huge congratulations goes out to the over 63,000 Canadians who registered for this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup at over 1500 shorelines.  The data is rolling in, and we’ll be sharing the results as soon as we can.  We’ve already heard some tales of unusual items at cleanups, and you can read about these here.

We’re also hearing some great stories from your fellow Site Coordinators.  Please enjoy the below snippets of the stories people have sent in so far, and please send us in any stories you’d like to share.

Robert Murray of Pinawa MB writes:

Despite the cool and rainy weather, 20 people came out for our first annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup along the Winnipeg River.  The good news is that our shoreline is quite clean.  We only managed to fill 3 large trash bags and 2 recycling bags – not counting the 9 tires that wouldn’t fit in bags.  We need to thank the people who don’t wait for a special day to pick up litter as their walk their dog or exercise along the trails.  The bad news is that we did find a bewildering variety of trash.  The “Antiques Roadshow” award goes to John Trueman, who scored a very cool old patent medicine bottle in pristine condition!

Zelda McKenzie of Hampton NB writes:

A big thank you to all the participants for a successful TD Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up here in Hampton on September 20th. 2008. 21 participants joined in an effort to help keep our shorelines and marsh area clean, 11 of whom were from the HHS Green Team lead by Mr. Hall. We collected 200 lbs of garbage around Spooner Island and on the Kennebecasis River from Hampton to Darlings Island. Some of the types of litter we found were alarming, old tires, a TV, metal pipes and barrels to name a few. The world’s largest fresh water supply is found in Canada and it’s important that we make keeping it clean a priority. It only takes a moment to turn our boats around and pick up what has blown off or left at the shore. Keeping our nature clean is everyone’s responsibility.

Barry Baltassen of Winnipeg MB writes about his cleanup in Kenora ON:

It takes a community to raise awareness. That was the theme of the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup which took place on Kenora’s Laurenson Creek on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008. Organized by the Lake of the Woods District Property Owners, with assistance from partners Safeway, City of Kenora and TD Bank, the event saw 25 willing participants clean the shoreline.

A number of children made the day enjoyable and memorable with their enthusiasm. Duncan McEwen brought his two young boys Mason and Oliver fully expecting to look after the boys more than gather garbage. The boys fooled him. They wanted to pick garbage, and pick garbage they did, cleaning up the shoreline by the Safeway docks well before noon. Six year old Mason McEwen, “almost seven”, didn’t want to stop.  “Picking up garbage is fun and good for the environment,” said Mason, when asked what he liked most about the day.  Nine year old Even MacPherson and eleven year old Kaylyn Hamlyn expressed similar sentiments. The words of these small but mighty stewards of the land kept adults refreshed and inspired.

In total, 20 bags of garbage and 10 bags of recycling, representing 275 lbs. of trash over about one kilometre of shoreline, were collected.

There is so much news to update everyone on, I don’t know where to begin.

Well, firstly, I would like to thank each and everyone of you who came out and participated in this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. This year saw over 63,000 people register to participate in over 1,500 cleanups happening across Canada. Thank you all!!! With your help, we have reached more Canadians than before and held successful September 20th Kick-off Events in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, and Halifax. These events helped kick-off the week by hosting an estimate of over 800 participants alone. [More will come on this later.]

Our Director of Conservation and Environmental Affairs, Angela Griffiths, told us:

“Our success this year is a reflection of the commitment shown by the thousands of individuals and community groups who are willing and able to do their part to protect our oceans and waterways. Most of the litter we find originates from land-based sources and the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup makes an important impact in reducing the amount of litter that reach our aquatic environment.”

Since the wrap up of this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup data has be sweeping in… through our system and through the mail. For any Site Coordinator who hasn’t submitted their data as of yet, it’s not too late. Log on and do so today!

To follow up on the last posts on unusual items, I thought it would be appropriate to write about some of the more unusual items that were removed from Canadian shorelines so far in 2008. In no particular order, we present to you….. [insert drum roll here and echoey affects]…. The Top 10 Oddest Items!

One of the 2008 Top 10 Oddest Items - The Hot Dog Cart - found along a Toronto shoreline along Lake Ontario.

§ A parking ticket machine

§ A bag of stolen purses

§ The hood of a 1942 Mercury Truck

§ A statue of Ganesh

§ A message in a bottle

§ A bullwhip

§ A hot dog cart

§ A “Royal Order of the Screechers” Certificate

§ Half a park bench

§ A whole pizza

As data is still coming in, we will compile a full list of odd items [with photos if available] and invite readers to participate in a short poll to see what we think the oddest item would be.

As a reminder, the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup may now be over for 2008, but until next year there are still many ways you can work towards keeping our local shorelines and waterways stay clean and green all-year round.

The following is a list of suggestions offered by the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and the Vancouver Aquarium:

- Recycle and clean up your garbage, no matter where you are

- Properly dispose of cigarette butts and cigar tips

- Bring re-usable bags with you when shopping as a way to reduce the number of plastic bags ending up in landfills or on shorelines

- Purchase environmentally friendly products

- Join thousands of volunteers across Canada next September for the 16^th annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

And of course, don’t forget to keep checking canadianshorelinecleanup.wordpress.com, www.vanaqua.org/cleanup and www.flickr.com/photos/26615119@N07/ for updates and photos from this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Once again thank you so very much to everyone who came out to help us keep Canada clean!

The start of September means that students are heading back to school and that Fall is on its way. September also means “Back to Shorelines” for our Site Coordinators! We have an astounding number of cleanups registered this year, and we are truly impressed by this year’s turnout.

We have been sending our packages out on a weekly basis so many of you will have received them already. You can also check to see if your package has been mailed by logging into your personal cleanup account and checking the “Package Sent Date” in the Cleanup Details box of the “My Cleanup Info” tab.  If you require additional supplies, please download the “Donation letter” template from the “Resources” tab for help seeking donations within your community.

The “My Cleanup Info” tab also displays the information we have been able to obtain from local municipalities. If there is no information listed, this means we did not receive any instructions. Please follow our normal recommendation of contacting your local city waste department directly to arrange this or using existing public bins (if available).

Have fun on the shorelines, and stay tuned for future posts on this year’s cleanup!

As I was going through my handy dandy set of online news alerts, this article caught my attention, “Hair rollers among rubbish netted in Knoydart clean-up.”

It is nice to know that one can find odd and unusual items along beaches and shorelines beyond Canada. Last year, some of the most usual items that were littered across Canada were

• underwear
• furniture
• a stethoscope
• traffic signs
• compasses (for those who were lost because the traffic signs have disappeared)
• a yoga instruction kit
• a homemade parachute
• hockey equipment
• a treasure map in a bottle
• a burned trailer
• overalls stuffed with pillows
• an antique sewing machine
• a Hibachi BBQ
• fire extinguishers
• bikes
• car parts
• gas cans
• oil drums
• a projector’s reel
• park bench
• satellite dish
• real estate signs
• a wheelchair
• an IV bag
• a metal brake from a snowsled
• shopping carts

This does make me wonder what wonderfully odd treasures our shores hold for us this year?

The disappointing thing about finding these items is that these items did not originate from water, they originated from land. Through the actions and behaviours of people have these items ended up resting along the shorelines of ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans.

In addition to marring the view of our shorelines, some of these items also leach harmful chemicals into the water and land – affecting both wildlife and the community surrounding it.

Luckily, the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is here to remind people that you can make a difference. Through individual actions to remove litter from shorelines across Canada, the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is able to gather data about the types of litter that encroaches the natural environment and keep it off the beaches.

Join the 15th Annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup and be part of the solution. Register to cleanup a location near you by visiting www.vanaqua.org/cleanup or call 1-877-427-2422.

For those of you who haven’t heard, the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation and Canadian Sailing Expeditions will offer one lucky registrant of the 2008 TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, a sailing sailing expedition in Eastern Canada.

Below is the news release that went out earlier this week to the media. Good luck to everyone participating in the 15th Annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. We look forward to seeing you on our shores!

TD Friends of the Environment Foundation Shows Canadians Cleaning Up Can Mean Shipping Out

New contest encourages Canadians to volunteer for the 15th annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup for a chance to win an exclusive sailing expedition

TORONTO—July 14, 2008—Salty sea air, fresh local cuisine and leisurely days filled with cycling and kayaking during a sailing trip to some of the most beautiful regions of this great country. This is just a taste of the experience to come for the grand prize winner in TD Friends of the Environment Foundation’s (TD FEF) new nation-wide contest. In an effort to encourage Canadians to register for the 15^th annual TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, all volunteers who register prior to the August 31^st deadline will be automatically entered for a grand prize draw for a trip for two on a stunning Canadian sailing expedition.

“Last year we set records; over 50,000 volunteers helped remove more than 87,000 kilograms of garbage from Canada’s shorelines, waterways and lakes, but there’s still more work to be done,” said Roger St. Louis, Regional Manager, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. “We want this year’s cleanup to surpass these records, which is what we hope the contest will help us achieve. The more volunteers we register, the more shorelines we can clean, making our waters cleaner and safer for generations to come.”

The grand prize draw will be held on September 12^th and the winner will have a choice of one of six Canadian sailing expeditions valued between $8,000 to $11,000. All packages feature a hands-on sail training program, guest lectures and entertainers and access to the ship’s bikes and sea kayaks. Air transportation to and from the departure and arrival cities of each expedition and ground transportation between ship and airport are also included. The packages’ destinations span Quebec to the Maritimes:

1. Halifax to Québec

• A trip for two for ten days/nine nights to Halifax, Canso, Charlottetown, Gaspé, Baie-Comeau, Tadoussac, Québec City

2. Québec Maritime

• A trip for two for seven days/six nights to Québec City, Tadoussac, Saguenay, L’Anse-Saint-Jean, L’Île aux Lièvres, La Malbaie, Grosse Île

3. Québec to Newfoundland

• A trip for two for ten days/nine nights to Québec City, Tadoussac, Baie-Comeau, Anticosti, Havre-Saint-Pierre, Mingan Archipelago, Gros Morne, Cornerbrook

4. Fjords, Bays and Tickles-Newfoundland

• A trip for two for seven days/six nights

5. Newfoundland to Nova Scotia

• A trip for two for seven days/six nights to Cornerbrook, Îles de la Madeleine, Brudenell, Canso, Halifax

6. Lighthouses & Coastal Colours

• A trip for two for seven days/six nights to Halifax, Port Mouton, Liverpool, La Have, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, South Shore

To register as a volunteer and to enter the contest, visit www.vanaqua.org/cleanup. Full contest rules are available on the website. Canadians are also invited to become a fan of the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup page on Facebook and post their favourite sailing pictures via the Flickr application – to post pictures through a Flickr account, the group page can be found under TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup Sailing.

In addition to the contest, TD Bank Financial Group is launching a multi-media marketing campaign to promote this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Targeting environmentally-conscious Canadians, ads will appear in the Globe & Mail, commuter papers and magazines including Time, Maclean’s, National Geographic, L’Actualité and Chatelaine. The creative is primarily in TD’s iconic green, featuring a frog in a pond and copy that calls viewers to action. The ads will also appear in transit shelters, targeting specific shoreline cleanup locations and online. FCB developed the creative, and The Media Company is handling the ad buy.

About TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

The TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a conservation program of the Vancouver Aquarium and TD Bank Financial Group has been a proud sponsor of the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup through its environmental foundation, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, for more than 12 years. In 2002, TD Bank Financial Group became the program’s title sponsor. In 2007, a record-breaking 50,000 volunteers participated in the national cleanup and removed 87,489 kilograms of litter from 1,240 sites spanning a collective distance of 1,722 kilometres. The cleanup is now in its 15^th year, and the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup in 2008 runs from September 20-28. To register, visit www.vanaqua.org/cleanup.

About TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF)

Since 1990, TD FEF has provided $45 million in funding to over 17,000 grassroots environment and wildlife projects across Canada. In 2007, FEF provided $3 million in support of 830 projects. Thousands of TD customers and employees donate to TD FEF on a monthly basis and TD Bank Financial Group contributes in excess of $1 million annually. TD also covers the management costs of running TD FEF; this ensures 100 percent of every dollar donated goes directly to funding environment and wildlife projects in the community where the donation was made. For more information please visit www.fef.ca.