scenes from a marsh

An excellent turn-out in primo spring weather for the OPIRG McMaster/Restore Cootes Volunteer Marsh litter clean-up Saturday.

A group of Katimavik youth began their clean-up by prying a long-dumped couch out of the soggy banks of the marsh, while McMaster students from the Biodiversity Guild waded into the deeper waters of the marsh to pull out everything from fire-extinguishers (five of them!) to rusted paint cans and pregnancy testers.

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Families from Dundas joined the fray, and with the assistance of Steve and Ron with their trucks, moving the long-stashed garbage and recyclables to the end of the lane where city workers will remove to the waste transfer station on Monday was a breeze.

Special thanks to Joanna Chapman and the office of Russ Powers for supplying bags and gloves.

Random catches:

• est. 40 people helped
• 2 hours
• Well over 50 bags of garbage removed, plus recycling and household hazardous waste
• 19 Car tires
• 5 fire extinguishers
• 1 microwave
• 1 pregnancy tester
• various furniture

Hopefully this clean-up will not have to be a yearly event at this Marsh - an access road is now blocked to vehicles which should prevent the use of the marsh as a dump.

NEED TO KNOW: Household hazardous waste can be disposed of safely by dropping off at the Dundas Waste Transfer station (and other municipal sites). Bulk items - such as the tires found in the marsh - can be picked up for free by the city. For more information on these programs, check out the city web site.

Remember that the opirg office is a drop-off point for used batteries. More info on battery recycling at McMaster here.

Photos by Bronwyn "Menace" Kay