News and results

My clean beach - Results season 2009

It is in 2009 that the program My clean beach was adapted to the freshwater ecosystems of the St. Lawrence. Large promotional efforts have been undertaken in the spring and fall to promote the program and to engage the population of the province of Québec to clean up their shorelines. 

22 cleanups

For this first year, we have distributed 80 French tool kits and 25 English tool kits to many groups in all the province of Quebec, along with 900 glove pairs, 300 trash bags and 200 recycling bags. In all, there have been 22 cleanup events this year. The following table shows the location, the number of volunteers and the length of shoreline that have been cleaned.

Locations	Organisers	Dates	Nb of volunteers	Filled bags	Nb of cleaned km
Île Saint-Quentin	ZIP des Deux-Rives	2 mai 2009	50	2	2
Ruisseau des Trente à Beloeil	COVABAR, École secondaire Polybel et Eugene Reimer Middle School	15 mai 2009	60	20	1
Rivière des Milles-Îles, à Laval	École Le Baluchon	22 mai 2009	220	110	3
Fleuve Saint-Laurent à Brossard	Marie-Pierre Chevrier, citoyenne	30 mai 2009	12	9	1
Fleuve Saint-Laurent à Montréal	Société d’animation de la Promenade Bellerive (SAPB)	30 mai 2009	35	35	2
Lac Témiscouata, à Témiscouata	Comité Vert de Notre-Dame-du-Lac	30 mai 2009	15	15	3
Lac Saint-Pierre	Comité ZIP du Lac Saint-Pierre	juin 2009	10	10	2
Fleuve Saint-Laurent à Longueuil	Centre de l'Information de l'Environnement de Longueuil	6 juin 2009	70	2.5 containers	12
Rivière Bic, à Bic	Maison des Jeunes du Bic	6 juin 2009	20	30 kg	5
Marais de Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly	Amis du marais de Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly	13 juin 2009
Canal Lachine, à Montréal	Pro Vert Sud-Ouest	17 mai, 31 mai, 21 juin, 26 juin, 10 juillet, 24 juillet, 6 août	63	40	3
Parc des rapides, à Lachine	Héritage Laurentien, Allion Elementary School Comité ZIP Ville-Marie	26 novembre 2006

Picked trash items :

	Nb de déchet par type :
	Polystyrènes	4927		Papier	432
	Tabac	2986		Articles d’hygiène personnelle	337
	Emballages nourriture	1941		Articles de pêche	192
	Plastique (autres)	1728		Morceaux de tissus	192
	Plastique (sacs)	1440		Pièces de construction	155
	Verre	1267		Pièces de véhicules	41
	Plastique (bouteilles)	945		Articles de chasse	19
	Métal	573		Articles de maison	11

The type of trash that was the most often found are small bits and pieces of polystyrene that could originate from building material as well as everyday life objects (coffee mugs, food wrapping, plates). Smoking related objects were also numerous to get into the trash bags of volunteers.To see the graph showing the proportion of each type of trash that was collected, click here.

A widespread myth says that cigarette butches are biodegradable. Consequently, it is believed that it does not matter if they are thrown on the ground. In reality, a cigarette butch takes between 2 and 10 years to decompose. While it is decomposing, it releases all kinds of toxic compounds into the environment. That is why it is important not to throw cigarette butch everywhere. One advice for smokers, why not buy a portable ashtray?

 

Photos album

 

Results for the season 2009

The Comité ZIP Ville-Marie invites you to consult the press release that sum up the results for the season 2009. For this first year, we have distributed 80 French tool kits and 25 English tool kits to many groups in all the province of Quebec, along with 900 glove pairs, 300 trash bags and 200 recycling bags. In all, there have been 22 cleanup events this year. The following table shows the location, the number of volunteers and the length of shoreline that have been cleaned.

To see the press release

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Great Cleanup of the St. Lawrence and its tributaries

The Great Cleanup of the St. Lawrence and its tributaries will take place between May 30th and June 15th, everywhere in the province of Québec. Several cleanups are already planned in different regions of the province. We encourage anyone who would like to participate in the Great Cleanup, may it be by organizing a cleanup or by joining one that is already planned, to visit the www.mapropreplage.net. On this web site you can order your free printed organiser’s toolkit, or you can check out for upcoming cleanups.

To see the press release
To see the publicity

 

April 2009 – Kick off to the first season of My clean beach program.

The Comité ZIP Ville-Marie invites communities all around Quebec to take part in a shoreline cleanup activity that will take place during the summer of 2009;

 

	You don’t have time to organise your own activity? No problem, join one that is already organised. Click here for the list of upcoming cleanups.
	You want to organise a cleanup activity with your friends, your familly or your coworkers? You will find all the tools you need to organise a fun and safe cleanup here. You can also get a printed copy of the toolkit by contacting us.
	Questions? Please call or email us today.

To see the press release (in French only)

 

 

November 2008 – Project startup : My clean beach

The Comité ZIP Ville-Marie will adapt the program My clean beach, designed for saltwater habitat, to freshwater habitat.

The goal of the My Clean Beach is to get communities involved in shoreline cleanups and in the early detection of riparian issues.
We aim to:

	Increase the sense of responsibility of communities toward their shoreline habitats;
	Educate and raise community awareness regarding shoreline habitats, their importance and problems that affect them;
	Encourage environmental monitoring of shoreline habitats by communities; and
	Demonstrate to communities the advantages of protecting shoreline habitats.
To see the press release (in French only)