Clayoquot Biosphere Region

Practicing safe paddling in the mouth of Shawnigan Creek looking into the end of Mill Bay. It was a perfect afternoon of hanging with my wildlife neighbours. I did have a Omer f concern when a very large Stellar Sea Lion surfaced quite close as I was enjoying my sandwich. I did not have enough to share. 😁

Today we finished off our garbage walk and completed the rest of Mill Bay Rd ( approx 4 km round trip ) We were actually pretty pleased with how little we found . There was another bag, not quite full, that had already been amalgamated into the larger trash at photo time.You know, I don't just send trash pictures to anyone : )

I took my dog for a walk on Florencia Bay and picked up trash as I went. I mostly found rope from fishing gear, small bits of hard plastics, styrofoam, some cans, a water bottle and water bottle caps.

I refreshed my knowledge on the effects and dangers of plastic waste in our oceans by watching "A Plastic Ocean" on Netflix and creating a work assignment for students around plastic and how to reduce plastic waste for our Ocean Literacy Program. Did you know 90% of seabirds will ingest plastic in their lifetime? Gross! 

I learned that although soft plastics are not accepted in our curbside program, they are accepted by drop-off at our local recycling facility. I find the most difficult part of recycling is making sure containers are washed properly (especially milk containers!).

Instead of plastic ziplock bags for food/ snack storage I have fabric reusable bags that I use. They're machine washable and way more fun with cool designs on the bags! I also swapped plastic wrap for beeswax wraps which work great to keep food fresh.