Susan Black is cleaning up Campbell River.
Clean Living is an initiative that Black started this past April in an effort to clean up litter from Campbell River’s streets.
After she complained to the city about garbage lined streets and was told that it just didn’t have the man-power to clean them up, she got a group of volunteers together once a month to pick-up garbage, and moved around each month cleaning different areas of the city.
But Black said this method was becoming too cumbersome, and decided to adopt a section of Dogwood St. to clean every month because she said it is so dirty.
“It’s only 350 metres, but oh, it’s a treasure trove of garbage, and coffee cups, and chips, and everything,” said Black.
The adopted section is between 2nd and 4th Avenues along Dogwood Street. Black and her team of volunteers will meet in the parking lot of the Madison Apartments at 345 Dogwood St. at 4 p.m. on Thurs. Sept. 29, then hit the street for an hour of trash picking.
The city of Campbell River donated trash pickers, work gloves, and garbage bags for the volunteers to use.
Black moved to Campbell River in Aug. 2010 after six years of traveling to places like Bolivia, Nepal, India, and China. She said she expected clean streets when she returned to Canada.
“When I came back here I had an expectation of pristine,” said Black. “I thought (Canada) was, until I moved to Campbell River.”
Black said she hopes that other concerned residents will adopt trash filled areas of the city, as she has noticed garbage in other places around town.
Garbage “takes away from the beauty of the city, and people come here because it is beautiful,” said Black. “When you toss garbage away, it gives the impression that you don’t care.”
For more information contact Black at 250-286-4838.