Litter Cleanup around the Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool & Fitness Centre, Burnaby – September 30, 2023

Highlights From The Day

• 115 diverse members of the community joined us and contributed over 350 hours total! We engaged all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels including families, newcomers, students, retirees, working professionals, returning Green Team volunteers, and first-timers!
  • Thank you so much for your hard work and enthusiasm: Aahana, Abigail, Adrienne, Adrina, Aldous, Ali, Amy L., Amy M., Andrew, Angel, Anna, Art, Arun, Beini (Lina), Bibiana, Bic, Bicram, Bowie, Carrie, Cecilia, Changle, Charlene, Charlotte, Chenyi (Chloe), Chloe, Chris, Christine, Cindy, Connie, Cynthia, Damon, Danny, Daphne, Dayna, Dion, Emily, Emma, Ethan, Evanna, Gary, Ghanashyam, Ginny, Grace, Harpreet, Harry, Hoi Ning (Helin), Hong Nee, Howard, James, Jan, Jane L., Jane R., Jason, Jessica, Jim, Jingyuan (Bruce), John L., John R., Joshua, Justin, Kai Chak (George), Kazuma, Kelly, Kelsey, Kevin, Laura, Leo, Liyuan, Loretta, Lorie, Lynne, Matthew, Mike, Min, Natasha, Nicholas, Nithasha, Owen (Bowen), Patricia, Peter, Philip, Qiuping, Richard, Rika, Riley, Ryan, Ryo, Sam, Sanaz, Sasha, Sean, Sesame, Seyez, Sherman, Shiro, Shuang, Sophie, Sylvie, Tin Yau (Tiann), Trang, Vanessa, Victoria, Wendi, Wendong (Donny), Wendy, Xinying (Cynthia), Yan (Daisy), Yanan, Yaxi (Angela), Yen, Yi-Xin (Sonia), Yimo, Yinghao, Yuhao, Yvonne!
• 76 people visited the Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool & Fitness Centre for the first time
• 61 people cleaned up litter for the first time
• Our Green Team brought together people from all over the Lower Mainland including Burnaby (68), Vancouver, West Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, Langley and more!
• Thank you to members of the Vancouver International Volunteer Association for joining us!
• Many volunteers wore orange for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Day to honour survivors and those who never made it home from residential schools

• Together our team:
  • Removed over 185 pounds of litter of all shapes and sizes (about as heavy as a kangaroo!) from areas surrounding the Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool & Fitness 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 third time piloting it and we were very pleased with the results!
  • Over 5,000 items were tracked and removed by our volunteers:
    • 2,944+ cigarette butts, a tiny but deadly piece of plastic, toxic litter. This was the most common item found!
    • 1,021+ pieces of plastic
    • 851+ pieces of paper
    • 156+ pieces of metal
    • 69+ pieces of glass
    • 23+ pieces of clothing
    • 19+ pieces of styrofoam
    • Additional items found included a dolphin toy, pacifier, part of a car hubcap, ramen seasoning, a golf ball, broken eye glasses, parts of a microwave, an ear plug, a flag, a battery, vape cartridges, masks, shoes, a comb, nuts and bolts, an umbrella, a bouncy ball, plastic sunglasses, someone’s wallet (which was turned in so that the owner could collect it), a car key (which was placed in a visible area to be found) and more!
• We want the tracking of litter data to add to our volunteer’s experience, not take away from it. Given the difficulty to track every piece, we estimate the total pieces of litter removed from the day to be over 10,000!
• Thank you to everyone for tracking and sharing what they found!

• Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley and Councillor James Wang 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 115 wonderful volunteers!

• Our Community Investment Partner, the City of Burnaby, provided direction and funding to make this activity possible!
  • Special thanks to Erik, Zac, Mario, Rob and John 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 August 26, 2023 at the Edmonds Community Centre!

In-Action Photos

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. We are much stronger when we work together, as demonstrated through our success at this and past litter cleanups!

This was the 5th and final litter cleanup we had planned with the City of Burnaby this summer.

Read about and see photos from all the litter cleanups we ran together this summer:

• May 27 around Ron McLean Park – 56 people engaged!
• June 24 around the Cameron Recreation Complex – 74 people engaged!
• July 29 around the Bonsor Recreation Complex – 109 people engaged!
• August 26 around the Edmonds Community Centre – 110 people engaged!

What Volunteers Said

“I had a fantastic time connecting with some old friends and getting to know new people while making Burnaby a better place! Garbage cleanups like these make Burnaby a more healthy urban ecosystem for the wildlife that we share our spaces with. These events also make the city a more beautiful place to live and instill a sense of place and belonging with the participants. Thanks for everything you all do!”

– Matthew

“I enjoyed meeting new friends. I feel the impact of this program is to make a impact on our community. Make our environment great. Raise awareness of environmental protection.”

– Yuhao

“I like it because I joined with other people to help clean our environment. We sent a positive signal that it was everybody ‘s responsibility to keep our community clean. Very positive impact”

– Yan (Daisy)

“Helped clean the neighborhood and got to know some people. I feel this program helps create awareness and make the community clean and presentable”

– Hong Nee

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
• ICS Clean Supplies for donating gloves, hand sanitizer and offering discounts on bags and litter pickers to make this cleanup possible
• Tru Earth for donating Laundry Detergent Strips to reward our amazing community
• LUSH for donating Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner and Karma Kream Body Lotion to reward our amazing community

Group Leaders

A huge thank you to our group leaders who led teams of 15-20 volunteers in areas around the Eileen Dailly Leisure Pool & Fitness Centre:

• John (back left) from the City of Burnaby
• Mario (back middle) from the City of Burnaby
• Zac (front left) from the City of Burnaby
• Ashton (front second from left), 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
• Andrea (front right), the Lower Mainland Green Team‘s new Program Coordinator

Rob (back right) from the City of Burnaby helped welcome and take care of volunteers at our home base throughout the activity!

THANK YOU!