To the editor,
I use the Nanaimo Parkway trail every day. I enjoy the songbirds, wildflowers, snails, garter snakes, rabbits, the occasional raccoon, owls and so many eagles and hawks overhead. What I don’t enjoy is the garbage.
In the last month I have collected eight large bags of heavy, wet garbage from a five-kilometre stretch of the trail. New litter arrives daily. Some is mindlessly tossed items like a mask, tissue, coffee cup, candy wrapper, doggy doo bags, much of it is plastic bags, there are beer bottles and cans, cigarette packages and butts and the list goes on. Much of the larger litter like cardboard boxes, bags of garbage, styrofoam, etc. comes from cars and trucks speeding by on the parkway – isn’t there a law against that?
So what can we do about it? Don’t litter. If you see litter, pick it up. If you have an open vehicle, tie down your load.
What can the City of Nanaimo do? Promote neighbourhood cleanup events with free garbage pickup. Provide public garbage cans along the parkway trail (currently only at Doumont and Northfield). Encourage the RCMP to ticket people who don’t tie down their loads.
A few folks have thanked me for my efforts, and some have been kind enough to help me carry the heavy bags. A special thanks to the man who motivated me to speak out by calling me names and shouting “that’s disgusting” when he saw me leave a bag of garbage beside a public garbage can.
Join me Nanaimo, I know we can do better.
Eileen Carolan, Nanaimo
READ ALSO: Garbage cleared from mountain bike trails in Nanaimo on B.C. Trails Day
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The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin.
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