An exciting World Environment Day in Lethbridge as the city has been given a new designation as a Clean Shoreline Community.
Residents have been picking up trash in the coulees and along the river banks for the past 11 years and that hard work has garnered the attention of Ocean Wise and WWF-Canada, the organizations in charge of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
Lethbridge is only the fifth city in Canada to be named a Clean Shoreline Community, along with Vancouver, Wets Vancouver, Calgary, and Hamilton.
Helen Schuler Nature Centre Manager, Coreen Putman, says it might seem odd to call Lethbridge a Clean Shoreline Community given we aren’t anywhere near the ocean, but anything we put in our rivers can end up in the ocean as well.
By becoming a Clean Shoreline Community, the City of Lethbridge will work collaboratively with Ocean Wise and WWF-Canada to raise awareness of the impacts of shoreline litter and to inspire residents to keep all shorelines free of litter.
According to the Helen Schuler Nature Centre, 43% of the trash items picked up last year during shoreline cleanups were cigarette butts