Partnered with The Nepean Sailing Club and The Ottawa Riverkeepers!

Photos captured by Melanie Abdelnour (Executive Director of Deep Blue Cleanup)

On September 19th, 2021, we partnered with the Ottawa Riverkeepers and The Nepean Sailing Club to do a shoreline cleanup on Aylmer Island. Three boat drivers from the Nepean Sailing Club brought 13 volunteers from Deep Blue Cleanup and the Ottawa Riverkeepers to the island, along with equipment for the event!

It was a great success, with volunteers collecting 44 lbs of trash, and removing pieces of an old boat from the island- bringing the total weight closer to 100lbs! Our executive director, Melanie Abdelnour noted that there were a lot of nails, broken glass, and cigarette butts in firepits and along the shore.

We were so happy to have this opportunity to collaborate with these partners and help clean debris from Aylmer Island! We can’t wait to plan another cleanup together soon- stay tuned! The Nepean Sailing Club also wrote a great post about the event- see it here! Alymer Island Volunteer Cleanup a Success! | Nepean Sailing Club (nsc.ca)

Please see below some great photos and an interview with Deep Blue Hero Levi- captured by Karli Zschögner (Intern, Sustainable Eastern Ontario & Sea Change Canada)! We are so excited to see all of the footage she got from the event!

Interview with Deep Blue Hero: Levi Hill (Grade 6) by Karli Zschögner

Karli- What brought you to do garbage cleanup today?

Levi - So some of my mom's friends, like they have a boat. So we just took their boat over here. And they told my mom that there's a garbage cleanup on the island. So we went into their boat, and we came to the island.

Karli - What are some of the thoughts from like what you've been picking up today?

Levi -  Well, I think it's really cool. But also it really sucks because there's so much garbage on just this one island. So imagine like how much there is on even bigger islands, like twice the size. But like, the cool part is that you can find like literally anything here and just put it in the bag.

Karli- Have you learned any like, has there been any discussions like at your school about garbage cleanup? Like, have you heard about, about issues of like, garbage other than like, what people are talking today

Levi - I know about it, but we don't really talk about in school, at least not yet. We probably will. This year at some point, though.

Karli- What do you hope to see in when you grow up?

Levi - I hope that there will be like a new material instead of plastic that would like decompose that people could make stuff out of.

Karli - What are some of the things that you found today that kind of stand out to you?

Levi - Well, I found like a huge ball of tissues. There might have been something in the middle but I don't know and I don't want to know. And I also found a really heavy can that probably has like wet sand in it or something. Like it was kind of hard to pick up with this thing.

Photos Karli Zschögner (Intern, Sustainable Eastern Ontario & Sea Change Canada)