A day of cleaning up in the woods by the Okanagan Forest Task Force has removed thousands of pounds of garbage and junk from the Postill Lake Road area northeast of Kelowna.
More than 40 OFTF volunteers took part in the effort Saturday.
“We had such a fantastic turnout. I can’t thank everyone enough,” said organizer Kane Blake in a news release. “All of our volunteers are an army with a mission, it’s amazing.”
The OFTF reports more than 45,000 pounds of waste material was cleaned up in the one-day effort bringing the total to about 111,000 pounds over the past 10 months.
“That number is crazy in just 10 months. A lot of the sites we go to are constant dumping spots. People don’t seem to get it or care,” said Blake.
Several Kelowna businesses helped out by donating equipment to the clean-up including KHS Landscaping which brought two crews with trucks and trailers.
ABC Recycling lent a magnet truck to pick up nails and other metal.
Blake says any identifying information found at the illegal dump sites is given to police. But he says the time has come to publicly shame the culprits.
“People need to be made an example of for people to change. If we catch someone dumping on one of our cameras, it will be on the news. It is time to grow up.”
The organization is asking for government funding to aid its volunteer efforts.
“How much wear and tear am I going to put on my own equipment without seeing a dime of help before I call it quits and go broke?” asks Blake.
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