When the snow melts, cleanup operations for the Halifax Regional Municipality shift to removing debris left behind from the winter.
“It can be a big job, when you think about the salt and sand in particular that’s used on some of the roads, that’s all left behind,” Lucas Wide said, a senior communications adviser with the municipality.
The operation takes about two months and doesn’t come cheap.
“Every season is obviously different based on the severity of the winter, but typically, it’s around $100,000,” Wide said.
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In Nova Scotia, all roads lead to the water, and that’s where harmful waste ends up, if it’s not picked up.
“So because everybody lives in a watershed, everything does funnel down into our water systems and eventually, we do end up seeing a lot of plastic and debris in our oceans,” Caytlyn McFadden said, the waste co-ordinator with the Clean Foundation.
Harmful plastics in the oceans can eventually come back and hurt humans.
“The fish and other species are ingesting it and gets into their systems, and then people are consuming those fish, and so the problem just compounds,” McFadden said.
Community-led cleanups can play an important role in reducing waste throughout the region.
“Last year, we had 14,000 people collect 10,000 bags of garbage and 1,500 bags of recycling. So that’s a huge impact across the province. That’s a lot of waste to be picked up,” McFadden said.
McFadden says it’s important for people to be waste-conscious at home in order to better protect the environment.
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