Heather Burke is on a mission to get more people picking trash.
It has been nearly three years since the Bouchie Lake resident has been tidying up the environment as temperatures rise.
“I don’t know why but people think picking up trash is gross, they don’t want to get their hands dirty, they don’t want to climb down in the ditches, but I’m hoping that by me doing it, and I see so many other people also doing it, that it’s going to start to change people’s perception,” Burke said.
Burke’s efforts have been slowly catching on in the North Cariboo, with neighbors and friends getting out and picking up trash.
Emcon Services, she said, even has helped by offering garbage bags, work gloves and safety vests and taking the trash-filled bags to the dump.
Read More: Keeping the North Cariboo clean by picking up one piece of trash at a time
Burke typically wears a bright orange sweatshirt on her spring litter picks, during which she receives friendly waves and honks from motorists.
On social media including Facebook, where she is the admin of a waste free living page, and Instagram she expresses appreciation for others picking litter, including Debra, who tries to keep the Dragon Lake Hill area clean.
“I always like to shout out people like that because to me those are people they are quietly leading by example, and it encourages and empowers other people to join in,” she said.
Burke plans to extend her spring clean-up efforts to local lakes, where she and her daughter have picked many beer cans and plastic bags during kayaking.
She encourages everyone to secure their garbage and think of the negative impacts it can have on local waterways, animals and even pets.
“It doesn’t have to be an all-day event,” Burke said of trash picking.
“Every little bit helps.”
Read More: Ocean Cleanup returns to B.C. with its first dent out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
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