Downtown clean up yields truckloads

Downtown clean up yields truckloads of trash

Apr 5, 2019 | 11:33 AM

About 30 volunteers rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty this morning for the 2nd annual spring clean up.

Everything from food scraps, cigarette butts, and other types of litter was collected.

People from all over Vernon are rolling up their sleeves for the Downtown Clean up . Annette Sharkey talks about what they found #Vernonbc #DowntownProud #DowntownVernon pic.twitter.com/lijaspcHLT

— Vernon Matters (@VernonMattersca) April 5, 2019

” We found a variety of things, lots of cigarette butts, just kind of litter that has accumulated over the winter, we did find a couple of needles but not that many,” said Annette Sharkey , who added that volunteers from all walks of life came and participated including some that have experienced homelessness.

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Jennifer Miles said she came out to volunteer because she wanted to help reduce the amount of contaminants that end up in local streams.

“Even in downtown we might not see the streams right here but all of our storm drain catch basins end up going into our local water ways and that water doesn’t get cleaned before it ends up in Vernon creeks ,” said Miles , who works as the water sustainability coordinator for the Regional District of the North Okanagan.

All the trash that was collected was bagged up and hauled away by trucks provided by the City of Vernon.

The spring clean up was organized by the Downtown Vernon Association as a way to beautify the downtown core.

The clean up was also held to help give the Folks on Spokes needle collection program a good head start before they hit the streets on Monday, April 8.