Staff from Parks Canada and the municipality picked up 1,710 kilograms of garbage during Stewardship Day, June 8.
It鈥檚 significantly less than last year when staff picked up 3,015 kg of garbage, but that鈥檚 not because there鈥檚 any less garbage.
Instead of picking up garbage along Highway 16 from the traffic lights to the West Gate like they did last year, staff opted to focus their efforts cleaning up rest stops and viewpoints along Highway 93.
鈥淭his year we decided to concentrate on viewpoints all the way down the highway as far south as the Icefields Centre,鈥� said Janet Cooper, Jasper鈥檚 environmental stewardship coordinator.
She said Highway 16 continues to be where most of the garbage is found.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unbelievable what gets tossed out the window.鈥�
This year 140 staff split up into six different teams to help clean up. The annual event was part of Environmental Week, which ran from June 4 to 11.
Approximately 440 kg of garbage 鈥� the most of any team 鈥� was picked up along Highway 16 from the Talbot Lake parking lot to the Palisades picnic area.
In total, the entire group also managed to collect $184.80 worth of beverage containers to help cover food costs for the barbecue at the end of the day.
Unlike last year where someone found a shotgun, the oddest thing that was found this year was a toilet seat and a children鈥檚 potty training seat.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e ever going to top the gun,鈥� said Cooper.
Besides cleaning up the environment the annual event is also an opportunity to build bridges between the municipality and Parks Canada.
鈥淧arks and the municipality work together on so many things so not only do we pick litter and clean up the highways it鈥檚 just a great team building exercise for these two levels of government who have to work cooperatively on so many issues in the park,鈥� said Cooper.
Paul Clarke
[email protected]
