Ahead of Earth Day, a group of Kelowna locals are taking to streets and beaches to clean up garbage that has been scattered about during the winter months.

Ajay Weintz of Mind Over Matter Diving and Kolby Corbett of Sustainable Stoner took the initiative to start a clean-up, as the two both believe it is the duty of humans to leave the earth cleaner than we found it.

sa国际传媒淲ith the overwhelming amount of trash scattered across the globe, it is our job to pick up the slack,sa国际传媒� said Weintz.

Weintz believes itsa国际传媒檚 important to approach the problem of waste from different angles and that the responsibility to solving the issue lies with sa国际传媒渃reative industries, followed by major brands, environmentalists, and finally by consumers.sa国际传媒�

sa国际传媒淎 lot of the time, when we throw out our trash, we are not aware of the lifespan it has passed the trash bin,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淔or example, a regular plastic water bottle can last for 450 years. Even then, itsa国际传媒檚 merely broken into microplastics, that small creatures end up eating. This can create long-term effects not only on those small creatures, but the things that eat them, and then predators, and so on. Microplastics can work their way up into humans.sa国际传媒�

It was understanding this concept that led Weintz and Corbett to create an event on March 20, asking Okanagan residents along with others from around the globe to participate in a clean-up of their communitiessa国际传媒� streets and beaches.

While Corbett will be leading the charge tidying up the land, Weintz will take to the waters diving around Okanagan Lake scooping up trash.

The Land and Sea spring clean-up event takes place March 20 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. around various Okanagan cities.

Those participating in the event are asked to take a photo of themselves and upload it to social media and tag and to enter to win Sustainable Stoner apparel.

READ MORE: Okanagan Westside communities see significant uptick in bear sightings

jen.zielinski@bpdigital.ca
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