The 2014 Dunes Cleanup saw its best volunteer turnout ever since the event got started 5 years ago.
Over 100 people came out on Saturday, and hauled 55,821 lbs of garbage out of the recreation area.
Steve Dean is with Clean Harbours, one of the business partners of the Dunes Clean Up.
He says they were able to contribute a couple front end loaders and garbage bins, along with a team of volunteers.
“Being a first year quadding enthusiast and going down through there, seeing the debris and the garbage, it’s pretty overwhelming and pretty shocking. However, I think as a community, and being able to get Clean Harbors involved in that, I think it was a huge help.”
Illegal dumping has become a huge issue in the Wapiti Dunes area, which prompted the start of the annual clean up back in 2009. Since then, more than 400,000 lbs of garbage has been removed from the recreation area.
Dean says he is a new user of the area, but after having put his time and effort into getting the area clean, he intends to continue his role a steward.
“If I see somebody dumping I will be sure to go up and express the feelings of the community about how gross it is. For the $5 or $10 and the 5 minutes out of your day that it takes to take it to the dump, it’s worth it.”
Volunteers were out at the site for five hours on Saturday removing burnt out cars, filling bags of garbage, and getting it all hauled out and off to the dump.