While the City of Vancouver has directed locals to properly dispose of waste materials, a collection of recent photographs show that not everyone is following the instruction.
Vancouver City Councillor and UBCM Director Pete Fry shared a couple of images to his Twitter account over the weekend that show garbage strewn across Strathcona Park. He writes that it is the second time he's see garbage dumped in the park, and notes that it is a "full truck worth of domestic loose garbage."
Fry adds that the dumping the household garbage isn't just a 'jerk move,' but that it is a fineable offence. In fact, anyone caught doing so can get slapped with a $500 fine which is prosecutable up to $10,000 in court.
The councillor thanks the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Park Board, and CUPE Local 1004 and shares a photos of the park before and and after it was cleaned of the garbage.
Photo: @PtFry / Twitter
Photo: @PtFry / TwitterLast month, Fry shared an image of personal protective equipment that he saw littered on the ground. He remarks that just because it is called, " 'Personal' Protective Equipment doesn't justify being totally self-centred." He also showed that keeping your hands clean allots you one point, while dumping your gloves on the street take you down a hundred points.
+1 Everybody keeping your hands clean and safe
— Pete Fry (@PtFry) April 3, 2020
-100 Everybody dumping your used gloves on the street
Seeing too much of this lately.
Just b/c we call it 'Personal' Protective Equipment doesn't justify being totally self-centred. Clean up your #COVIDtrash#InItTogether pic.twitter.com/cXAyhyJNsF
People have been sharing multiple images of discarded personal protective equipment on social media, and sharing the disdain for the lack of care.
Last month, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart called out the new kind of litterbug after posting photographs on Facebook of surgical gloves randomly strewn on a road and at an underground parking lot. He even asked, “Perhaps a $10,000 fine would be in order for discarding used masks/gloves?”
Single-use face masks are also washing up on Hong Kong beaches, threatening marine life and raising questions about hygienic disposal of the masks, says a Saanich researcher in marine plastic pollution.
The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in the widespread use of face masks in South East Asia, some of which have been improperly discarded, says Teale Phelps Bondaroff, director of research for OceansAsia, which investigates wildlife crimes with the aim of bringing those who destroy and pollute marine ecosystems to justice. “It really highlights the fact we are treating our oceans like garbage dumps.”
- With files from the Times Colonist.
