FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In Peachland, Spring has Sprung…and so have the Fenders, Batteries, Tires, Refrigerators and more…

(Peachland, BC) On Saturday, May 6th, 2023, the Peachland Watershed Alliance (PWPA) marks the spring season, with its annual Community Watershed Cleanup. Volunteers from Peachland and across the Okanagan assemble for a massive clean-up blitz in the back country of Peachland from Princeton Avenue to Brenda Mine.

The 2023 cleanup effort marks the 5thyear that PWPA has organized the watershed cleanup event. You might think that with all this attention, Peachland’s back country would be getting cleaner and less polluted by illegal garbage dumping. But despite the massive endeavors of the volunteers and sponsors, including the Okanagan Forest Taskforce (OFTF), ABC Recycling, GFL Waste Management, RDCO, and the District of Peachland, each year more trash is being pulled out than the year before.

From burned out campers, household furniture and major appliances, to the discovery of an illegal grow op, Peachland volunteers have pretty much seen it all. “It never seems to end,“ says volunteer and PWPA Chair, Jack Gerow, “you think you’ve finished cleaning up an area, and as you take a few steps something else will catch your eye, and before you know it you’re packing another bag of trash out of the forest.

The Peachland clean up crew are dedicated though. In 2021, in the middle of the pandemic just shy of 100 volunteers tuned up and collected 8.3 tonnes of scrap metal including abandoned vehicles; and filled a 40 cu. yd. dumpster full of other assorted garbage. In 2022, in the pouring rain, over 100 volunteers participated and filled a 40 cu yd dumpster, 3 pick up truck loads of old car parts, several full 40 cu yd commercial garbage bins, and the huge ABC Recycling scrap metal container truck – sadly, a record haul.