Despite the typically Vancouver-ish start to the day (rain, so much rain), a small army of water-proof clad volunteers assembled on Kitsilano Beach to take up buckets and trash-pickers for a deep beach clean and trash audit with Greenpeace Canada and Surfrider Foundation Vancouver. At first glance the beach didn’t look too bad for such an urban and popular setting, but as the pickers got underway I was astounded and disgusted with how much garbage they collected in such a short time. And the cigarette butts, oh so many butts, was stomach turning.
Greenpeace crew then sorted through the collected trash, assigning it to the different brands responsible for it’s production. Data collected through previous international brand audits confirmed that some of the world’s largest corporations are top contributors to single-use plastic pollution worldwide. Many of these corporations including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Pepsi and others sell well-known brands in Canada. The compiled results from the global audits and the Canadian audits will be released in early October 2018.
