From food wrappers to fishing lines, light bulbs to false teeth, the litter that lines B.C.'s shores, whether ordinary or unusual, poses a threat to the health of wildlife and local communities.
This September, B.C.'s shorelines will be filled with volunteers participating in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
In Kamloops, volunteers will meet at the beach on the north side of Overlander Bridge, in Riverside and Pioneer parks, on McArthur Island and along the river shore in Rayleigh.
"From leaching harmful chemicals into the water, to entangling animals, the negative impact of shoreline litter is far-reaching," said Jill Dwyer, program manager of the cleanup.
Data collected at last year's cleanup revealed that B.C. cleared the longest length of shoreline nationally at 1,128 km, removed the highest total weight of litter nationally, 66,127 kg, and had the highest number of registrants: 56,000 people.
Forty-eight per cent of the removed litter originated from smoking-related activities.
In Kamloops area, interested participants can register to help out at www.ShorelineCleanup.ca, or show up on the day of.
The staff of Real Canadian Superstore will host the Overlander Bridge beach cleanup Sept. 18, meeting at 10 a.m. in the Henry Grube Centre parking lot, holding a possible wind-down barbecue afterward.
Home Depot hosts a cleanup Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. meeting at the McArthur Island parking lot.
Sept. 20 a group of geocachers will meet at the end of Fort Avenue where it meets Schubert Drive on the North Shore at 4 p.m. Their cleanup will run 'til dusk.
Riverside and Pioneer parks will be cleaned staring at 10 a.m., Sept. 29, and volunteers are welcome to show up.
The river shoreline cleanup crew in Rayleigh will meet at the dead-end of Helmcken Drive at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 29 as well.
"Once you start walking over the surface, you start looking and things start popping out at you," said Linda Kehoe, organizer of two of the cleanups.
Dwyer said site co-ordinators will give instruction, and one person in each small group will be responsible for recording data on what type and how much litter is collected.
"There's still time to register," she said, and there are still shorelines in need of a cleanup that hasn't been organized yet.
These include Guerin Creek, the river at McDonald Park, Tranquille Creek, Kamloops Lake at Cooney Bay, the river near the B.C. Wildlife Park, alongside the Riverside Golf course, and Todd Hill Park Stream and Monte Lake.
"If there's a shoreline that's not designated on our map, people can actually submit a site to us as well, and suggest it to be added to the map."
Some sites are designated private cleanups, as youth groups will clean them with their own supervisors.
The Cleanup is a conservation initiative of the Vancouver Aquarium and the World Wildlife Fund.
To find a site, visit www.ShorelineCleanup.ca.
