Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
Volunteers will clean up a stretch of highway this Saturday with the event starting at 10 a.m. and going until the job is finished.
Sean and Joy Prockter, owners of Jasper Hikes & Tours, are spearheading the annual cleanup of the three-kilometre segment of Highway 16 that runs just past the east gate.
鈥淲e do cleanups quite frequently, usually in the spring and the fall, and this is a segment of highway that the business adopted,鈥� said Sean Prockter.
Participants can park at the pullout just past the east gate on Highway 16.
All gear will be provided by the organizers, and physically distancing will be maintained during the cleanup.
Prockter said cigarette butts are the most common form of waste found along the highway, along with cans, pee bottles and vehicle parts, as well as packaging and wrapping that flies off the trucks.
鈥�(There鈥檚) quite a lot of stuff from trucks since that鈥檚 the main transport and they do shed a lot of material as they come through,鈥� he said.
鈥淎 lot of the trash, I think, that鈥檚 out there is not necessarily tossed out someone鈥檚 window. It鈥檚 fallen out. But certainly the beer cans, the cigarette butts, all that stuff people are absolutely throwing out the window.鈥�
Prockter added that the cleanup was important to make the highway more aesthetically pleasing, keep the trash away from wildlife and limit the amount of plastic that gets into waterways.
For more details about the highway cleanup, contact Jasper Hikes & Tours by calling 780-931-HIKE (4453) or emailing [email protected]
