21 years of fishing shopping carts out of Saint John's Marsh Creek

It's a chance to remove heaps of scrap metal, plastic bags and other refuse callously tossed into Marsh Creek, ACAP Saint John says after enlistingvolunteers to roll up their sleeves for the annual spring cleanup.

The non-profit organization has cleanedMarsh Creek every year since 1997, and the tradition continues today.

This year, volunteers will visit many partsof the east Saint John creek that have already been cleaned, said ACAPexecutive director Graeme Stewart-Robertson.

"Even in my time [over]the last 12 or 13 years working, even as a summer student back at ACAP, we used to get numbers of six to eight tonnesof debris on a Saturday morning. And believe it or not, those areas still see annual cleanups."

The need for cleanup

Stewart-Robertson said much of the man-made debris found in Marsh Creekis not unexpected.

"There are, however, those cases where things are dumped in a more callous way," he said. "It could be that someone did a small home renovation and didn't want to go to the landfill on Crane Mountain and simply dump it at the end of the road or parking lot."

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Shopping carts a problem

Stewart-Robertson said shopping carts have always been a problem, but their numbers are declining.

"Thankfully, a lot of shopping centreshave changed their shopping cart practices, where it's more difficult to either remove them from the property because of radio controls, or bollards or signage," he said.

"I remember a few years ago having a cleanup where we removed enough shopping carts that the scrap metal was worth $20,000. It's seen a significant decrease since then."

Shopping carts may be taking up less room in the creek, but there's been an increase in construction debris and household items such as furniture, he said.

There are larger-scale problems, too. Sometimes contractors will skirt the proper disposal of debris. Even simply moving out of ahouse can lead to debris carelessly left behind. And that debris can end up in protected areas or wetlands, Stewart-Robertson said.

Even with the success of cleanup efforts around the Port City,alot more needs to be addressed, he said.

Fish coming back

"But that being said ... [that] we have seen the return of fish species that no one alive today can remember being in the creek is a phenomenal win for southern New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada," he said.

Social media is playing an active role in this year's cleanup.

"We have a new program through the summer called Port City Pickup," Stewart-Robertsonsaid. "If you've got a social media account onInstagram, Twitter orFacebookor any number of things, if you post a picture of you picking up garbage or debris and tag it with thehashtag#portcitypickup, you can win prizes throughout the summer."