Elsevier

Marine Pollution Bulletin

Volume 135, October 2018, Pages 411-417
Marine Pollution Bulletin

Towards cleaner shores: Assessing the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup's most recent data on volunteer engagement and litter removal along the coast of British Columbia, Canada

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.07.036Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Trash yield per kilometre was higher in isolated, wave-exposed shorelines.

  • Most litter items were made out of plastic regardless of the clean-up site or date.

  • Trash performance indices, profiles and sources differed across coastal BC.

  • Performance indices, trash profiles and litter sources were similar through time.

  • GCSC efforts are effective for marine pollution abatement, but not for prevention.

Abstract

This paper analyzes voluntary cleanups organized by the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (GCSC) along the coast of British Columbia (2013–2016). Cleanup performance indicators, litter composition and diversity were compared between years and across areas (i.e., North Coast of British Columbia, Inner Coast of Vancouver Island, West Coast of Vancouver Island, and Southern Strait of Georgia). Significant differences in parameters were found between areas but not across time. Spatial variation in trash composition and diversity was mostly related to source of litter. Trash yield per kilometre of shoreline was higher in isolated areas and in areas with exposed shorelines. The majority of recovered litter items were composed of plastic. Local actions, complementary to the GCSC, such as banning single-use, non-biodegradable takeout containers on beaches, implementing trash buyback programs, and modifying waste management and recycling regulations, are proposed as mechanisms for strengthening the prevention and mitigation of coastal pollution in British Columbia.

Introduction

Humans directly modify the oceans through pollution, affecting marine ecosystems' composition, structure and function (Lehtonen et al., 2017; Worm et al., 2017). Marine debris has lethal consequences on marine biota through entanglement and ingestion, and sub-lethal effects from the bioaccumulation and biomagnification of chemical pollutants (Alava et al., 2017; Hasenbein et al., 2017; Worm et al., 2017). Additionally, debris can potentially travel across oceans transporting invasive species, impacting biodiversity by modifying local food-webs (Sigler, 2014).

Marine pollution concerns are growing as global litter production increases, and mismanaged garbage disposal facilities continue to exist (Tibbetts, 2015). The annual influx of ocean litter has increased from 6.4 million tonnes in 1975 (National Research Council, 1975) to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic alone in 2010 (Jambeck et al., 2015).

Efforts to mitigate and prevent further effects of marine pollution currently include removing marine debris, implementing effective trash management and disposal strategies, and fostering changes in the production of items commonly recovered as debris (Sheavly and Register, 2007; Storrier and McGlashan, 2006). The success of initiatives is largely dependent on the level of citizen engagement, as informed populations more willingly take active roles in solving environmental problems and demanding accountability from local governments and multinational corporations (Gelcich et al., 2014; McKinley and Fletcher, 2012).

The Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (GCSC) is a conservation initiative of the Vancouver Aquarium (OceanWise) and WWF-Canada, aiming to promote understanding of shoreline litter by encouraging Canadians to rehabilitate shorelines through voluntary cleanups (GCSC, 2017). This paper provides a synthesis of the most recent spatial and temporal trends in cleanup effort, yield and litter profiles of coastal cleanups, orchestrated by the GCSC in the province of British Columbia (BC). The results provide useful information for stakeholder groups attempting to change littering behaviour of citizens through awareness campaigns and changes in policy.

Section snippets

Data collection

Cleanups organized by the GCSC are advertised by a variety of means including their website, public events and at the Vancouver Aquarium. The GCSC or volunteer cleanup leaders provide details of the cleanups and volunteers sign up using a virtual interface (GCSC, 2017). Volunteers track litter data during cleanups, providing tallies of individual litter items, number of volunteers, distance of shoreline cleaned, overall weight of trash collected, and any comments on unusual items and animal

Coastal cleanups in British Columbia

The GCSC organized 1226 coastal cleanups in BC between 2013 and 2016, at an average of 307 ± 67 cleanups/year. These efforts involved a total of 29,516 participants (7379 ± 1871 participants/year), cleaning up 2491 km of shoreline (623 ± 138 km/year), and recovering a total of 109,557 kg of trash (27,389 ± 66,634 kg/year). Note that the number of participants does not reflect unique individuals, one volunteer might be counted multiple times for participating in multiple cleanups. Cleanup

Spatiotemporal trends in the GCSC data

Cleanup performance indicators, trash profiles, litter material and sources were consistent over the studied time period, with plastic dominating all shorelines (80–90% on average). Significant spatial differences were observed along the BC coast (Table 2). NCBC cleanups produced larger yields and covered greater distances compared to other regions, while cleanups in SSOG produced smaller yields per volunteer and per km (Table 3).

These differences can likely be explained by a combination of

Conclusions

The GCSC initiative has been effective at removing shoreline litter, an important step towards improving ocean health and reducing negative anthropogenic impacts on marine organisms. However, the available data indicates the GCSC has not yet been effective at reducing shoreline pollution. Thus, more efforts should be allocated to campaigns seeking regulatory changes for the production and distribution of items commonly found on shorelines; marine pollution awareness campaigns; and, waste

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge shoreline litter data supplied by the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (To lead a cleanup near you, visit www.shorelinecleanup.ca). Acknowledgements are also given to Simon Donner and the Ocean Leaders Graduate Fellowship program for their feedback and supervision on the project. Finally, we would like to thank Villy Christensen who provided feedback to improve this manuscript.

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