It shouldn’t be too much of his fellow islanders, says Patrick Straw.
If you eat fast food in your car, don’t throw the wrappers out the window
When you’re done drinking, don’t throw the can in the ditch.
Take it home. Find a trash can. Recycle it.
Please do not leave any rubbish behind.
“It’s not world-changing,” he said. “It’s just stopping waste. That’s all we want to do.”
Still, Straw and others in his community in South Shore, PEI, pick up other people’s trash every week. It has become so frustrating that they started their own website, Island Beautifulto help raise awareness of the problem.
Patrick Straw says he sees trash in the middle of the road while riding his motorcycle in the summer. (Connor Lamont/CBC)
“We have an island that has beauty above all and that’s why everyone comes here. And if it’s the people who live here because it’s out of season who throw trash around, then that’s not good for anyone and certainly not good for tourism.”
The group even posted a sign warning that they would be caught on camera. There were no real cameras, Straw admits, but they thought it might discourage some people.
“That idea probably wasn’t the most well-thought-out idea we had because we didn’t really take privacy laws into account, but it certainly caught a lot of people’s attention.”
The PEI government has placed its own sign in the Long Creek area warning people of a $200 fine for littering. (Connor Lamont/CBC)
That sign has since been replaced with an approved standard government sign that warns of a $200 fine for littering.
Straw hopes it will make a difference. It’s especially bad (and dangerous) in the summer when he’s riding his motorcycle and sees “a lot of fast food waste, especially thrown in the middle of the road.”
“It’s really noticeable when you’re on a bike that people just can’t take the time, which I think is very irresponsible, to take it home and throw it in the trash or take it to a gas station. And in Some cases it’s also quite a substantial amount, so that got us thinking, maybe we can do something.”
Straw said anyone interested in joining the group can contact them through the website.