Litter Cleanup around the Edmonds Community Centre, Burnaby – August 26, 2023

Highlights From The Day

• 110 amazing members of the community joined us and contributed over 320 hours total!
  • Thank you so much for your hard work and enthusiasm: Abby, Alan, Alice, Amy, Angel, Arin, Art, Ashley, Austin, Benlian, Bigu, Bing Yi, Bruno, Changle, Chris, Colleen, Daniel, Dong, Doris, Ebru, Elena, Elisa, Emma, Feng, Flowery, Gabriel, Gary, Gerlinde, Girish, Glen, Harry, Hayden, Henry, Heping, Hoi Ning, Holly, Jacky, Jamie, James, Jason, Jeff, Jenny, Jessie, Joanne, Jon, Kay, Kayk, Kayla, Keefé, Kelly, Kelsey, Kevin C., Kevin Z., Lara, Leaf, Leo, Leticia, Liz, Lily, Londa, Loretta, Lynn, Maddox, Marco, Marion, Matthew, Melanie, Melinda, Meryl, Mia, Mikayla, Mike B., Mike C., Misha, Molili, Molly, Naghmeh, Nancy, Nina, Pamela, Qunlai, Rahul, Ray, Richard, Robel, Robert, Ryo, San, Sarah, Sheldon, Steven, Sylvie, Tallan, Tara, Thu, Tin Yau, Tina, Tyler, Victoria, Weili, Wenxiu, XiangJing (Jeff), Xiaoli, Xiaolin, Xuezni, Yali, Yathharthha, Yeh lo, YongLin (Lynne) and Yuezhong!

• Together our team:
  • Removed over 238 pounds of litter of all shapes and sizes (heavier than an adult male cougar!) from areas surrounding the Edmonds Community Centre to keep litter out of our streets, waterways and ecosystems.
    • (The weight of large/heavy items unable to be bagged and carried is not included, the City of Burnaby has scheduled pickup of these larger items)

• Chris, one of our awesome volunteers, has been helping us develop an app to track our litter data (click here to view it!) easily using our phones vs. paper and clipboards. This was our second time piloting it and we were very pleased with the results!
  • 11,937 items were tracked and removed by our volunteers:
    • 6,596,+ cigarette butts were removed, a tiny but deadly piece of plastic, toxic litter. This was the most common item found!
    • 2,198+ pieces of plastic were removed
    • 2,122+ pieces of paper were removed
    • 325+ pieces of styrofoam
    • 255+ pieces of metal
    • 130+ pieces of glass
    • 34+ pieces of clothing
    • Additional items found included a doorknob, an old bike lock, 2 marbles, a lego piece, fake flowers, a puzzle piece, ribbon, plastic floss picks, a costume moustache, a piece of a rubber mud flap, a roll of duct tape, party streamers, earplugs, a car mirror, a sponge, face masks, an AirPod, a first place plastic trophy, a belt buckle, glasses, popcorn cups, a glove, floor mats, a suit bag, styrofoam beads, vape cartridges, a hairdryer, about 40 fluorescent tube lights, an air conditioner, broken fan, vacuum cleaner and more!
• Given the difficulty to track every piece, we estimate the total pieces of litter removed from the day to be well over 15,000!
• Thank you to everyone for tracking and sharing what they found!

• All ages, backgrounds, and experience levels were engaged including families, newcomers, students, retirees, working professionals, returning Green Team volunteers, and first-timers!
  • 74 people visited the Edmonds Community Centre for the first time
  • 52 people cleaned up litter for the first time
  • Our Green Team brought together people from all over the Lower Mainland including Burnaby (74), Vancouver, North Vancouver, Richmond, Port Coquitlam, Surrey and Langley!
  • Thank you to YongLin (Lynne) and members of the Vancouver International Volunteer Association for joining us!
  • Thank you to Marco and youth from the local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for joining us!

• This activity was featured in the Burnaby NOW! Read the article:
  • August 22, 2023

• Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley and Councillors James Wang and Daniel Tetrault joined us at this activity to clean up litter and thank our volunteers for coming together to care for the Burnaby community and environment
  • Thank you for your support of our work and partnership with the City of Burnaby!

Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley addressing and thanking our 110 amazing volunteers!

• Our Community Investment Partner, the City of Burnaby, provided direction and funding to make this activity possible!
  • Special thanks to Erik, Zac, Mario, Ron, Sinéad, Mario and Michelle in the Engineering Department for their contributions before, during and after this activity to make it so successful!

• This was the LARGEST litter cleanup the Lower Mainland Green Team has ever run, beating our previous record set on July 29, 2023 at the Bonsor Recreation Complex!

In-Action Photos

Jason, Lily and Kevin joined us for the 3rd time and used metal wire and clips to create a bag holder – we LOVE this creativity and commitment to our team!

Why Do We Do This Work?

The Lower Mainland Green Team organizes hands-on educational activities that have a positive environmental impact to empower people. Through activities such as invasive plant removals, plantings, litter cleanups and more, we are fostering connections with others and nature so that health and well-being is prioritized, lifelong environmental stewardship is promoted, and community members are enabled to take care of themselves, each other and the places they live. We all have the power to make a difference!

We all experience mental and physical health benefits from spending time in nature, including reduced stress and anxiety, and improved mood, focus, memory and more. While doing so, we can also have a positive impact on the environment as demonstrated through this activity!

Partner For This Activity

This activity was made possible thanks to financial support and direction from the City of Burnaby Engineering Department. Thank you Erik and Zac!

Through this partnership we are combining our strengths to achieve our common goals – a win for all! Thank you City of Burnaby for investing in your community and environment through the work of our charity.

This was the 4th of 5 litter cleanups we’re organizing with the City of Burnaby throughout the summer — Join us for our final one on September 30 (Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool & Fitness Centre) from 9:45am-1pm!

What Volunteers Said

“Really appreciated organizers led groups, learned our names and there was a snack break. Felt a sense of community. Cleaner community”

– Loretta

“It was a way to give back to the community. It was nice to be acknowledged by passerby who honked their horns as a way to praise what we were doing. I enjoyed meeting other people and being able to help clean the trash that pollutes our environment. I felt a sense of accomplishment.

Looking forward to volunteer again in our neighborhood and recruiting others to join us.”

– Marion

“A great opportunity to meet new people while getting outside, getting exercise, and making a difference! This program is a fantastic way to bring community members together over a common goal to improve the health of our local environment.”

– Matthew

“I enjoyed getting the opportunity to help clean up our community with a very nice group of people. It gets people out of their homes and into their community in a social setting working together to improve their city by cleaning it up. I think people take pride in feeling they are contributing to the betterment of their community.

I thought this program was well organized. We need more of these clean up days! I would volunteer for the next one but unfortunately I will be out of the country.”

– Lynn

“Definitely love it. Leaders are super nice and friendly. Makes our community and environment clean.”

– Angel

“Met some people again from the previous event and more elderly people joined actively and strongly contributed to this cleanup activity. I was proud for being able to do community support and satisfied some passersby’s words of “Great job” “Thank You”, and a thumbs up gesture. All of your LMGT team members are friendly and well-organised. Now more and more people are getting involve in this cleanup event.

This program can help to raise awareness about the importance of keeping our planet clean and healthy.”

– San

“FUN in the SUN ! Who knew picking trash and cigarette butts was so enjoyable. Good exercise too! Sets a good example for the neighbourhoods we walk through, as well as to the drivers who pass by. Beep Beep! Good positive program.”

– Mike

In-Kind Supporters

Thank you to the following local businesses for their support and contributions to this activity:

• Big K Clothing for donating high visibility vests to keep our volunteers safe
• Tru Earth for donating Laundry Detergent Strips to reward our amazing community
• ICS Clean Supplies for donating gloves, hand sanitizer and offering discounts on bags and litter pickers to make this cleanup possible

Group Leaders

A huge thank you to our group leaders who led teams of 10-20 volunteers in areas around the Edmonds Community Centre:

• Mario (back middle) from the City of Burnaby
• Ron (back right) from the City of Burnaby
• Sinéad (front left) from the City of Burnaby
• Kaitlin (front second from left), the Greater Victoria Green Team‘s Program Manager, visiting from Vancouver Island
• Ashton (front middle), the Lower Mainland Green Team‘s Program Manager
• Lyda (front second from right), Green Teams of Canada‘s founder and Executive Director who also founded our Lower Mainland Green Team in 2011
• Severine (front right), the Greater Victoria Green Team‘s Program Coordinator, visiting from Vancouver Island

Michelle (back left) from the City of Burnaby helped welcome and take care of volunteers at our home base at the Edmonds Community Centre throughout the activity!

THANK YOU!