Some 175 people descended upon Cadboro Bay late Sunday morning to help clean up one of the regionB次元官网网址檚 most famous beaches.

Many carrying buckets, others donning diving suites, the volunteers picked up and fished out refuse both small and large, including a toilet bowl that Coun. Ned Taylor and community activist Shawn Newby, president of Saanich Community Associations Network (SCAN), dug up.

B次元官网网址淲e spent about half an hour digging it out from under a tree,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淎dds new meaning to the crap people leave on the beach!B次元官网网址� he added later.

RELATED:

Taylor said he believes the bowl initially belonged to one of boats that routinely strand on the beach.

But if the bowl is perhaps the most visible representation of the flotsam and jetsam that litters beaches everywhere, the event organized by the local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation also drew attention to a less visible but perhaps more harmful form of pollution, namely pollution caused by plastics of various sizes and forms, including so-called B次元官网网址渘urdlesB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� small, fragmented pieces of plastic.

B次元官网网址淭hese beach clean ups are really important,B次元官网网址� said Taylor. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 unfortunate that we do need volunteers to be cleaning our beaches of plastic, Styrofoams and other waste, but thatB次元官网网址檚 the reality weB次元官网网址檙e living in.B次元官网网址�

Pending public input and ratification, Saanich plans to ban single-use plastic bags by Jan. 1, 2020, and several councillors including Taylor have already called for additional measures to ban additional items made out of plastic that contribute to the massive, on-going accumulation of plastic in the worldB次元官网网址檚 oceans.

B次元官网网址漌hen I helped clean up today it reminded me of how important it is for us to start phasing out harmful plastics and move towards reusable, compost-able and recycle-able materials instead,B次元官网网址� said Taylor.

For the local chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, SundayB次元官网网址檚 clean up was the first of its kind for 2019. For 10 years, every second Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1p.m., Surfrider Vancouver Island has been cleaning up a southern Island beach. For Eric Dahli, chairperson of the Cadboro Bay Residents Association, SundayB次元官网网址檚 clean-up was also an annual event for a good cause following this yearB次元官网网址檚 winter storms.

RELATED:

RELATED:

Overall, the beach was relatively clean, and the conditions for SundayB次元官网网址檚 clean-up could not have been better, he said.

Still unresolved though is the fate of a ferro-cement boat that stranded onto the Saanich side of the beach almost three weeks ago.

Dahli said the unknown owner of the boat is now trying to patch up the boat, then pull the boat off the beach with a tug boat. At least two prior recovery efforts had failed.

B次元官网网址淭his one is different [than other cases],B次元官网网址� said Dahli.B次元官网网址滺e wants it back. He doesnB次元官网网址檛 want it to turn into another derelict.B次元官网网址�

Or in other words, he wants to spare some future volunteers the effort of digging up a toilet.

Like us on and follow us on

wolfgang.depner@saanichnews.com