Volunteers clean up garbage at Assiniboine Park

Volunteers were out in full force in Assiniboine Park Sunday cleaning up unwanted litter, with a focus on the river shoreline.

It was the Assiniboine Park Conservancy's fourth annual shoreline clean up. More than 80 volunteers spread out throughout the park to pick up garbage.

"We do the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, connected with Ocean Wise," said Marc Brandson, curator of animal care at the Assiniboine Park Zoo.

The annual event challenges Canadian parks to clean up any ocean, lake, or river shorelines within their borders. "The goal would be for there to be the least amount of garbage, and any garbage that we find being recyclable or compostable or reusable of course," said Brandson. "But what we do find year in and year out is that the snow as it recedes exposes plenty of stuff left behind. So here we are today to be able to bring that and defer it from any river system."

While the clean-up effort did focus on the river shoreline, Brandson said volunteers were able to cover a lot of ground. "We're actually looking to clean up a good majority of the park here today," he added.

The clean up event began in 2020, when water levels were low on the river. Brandson said they found some interesting items that first year. "There was a motorcycle engine, there was a truck bed. And being that there was a lot of metal, we actually had measured one ton worth of garbage in that year. We hope to never replicate that again."