After collecting waste at the Santa Claus Parade, Huntsville’s Green Team was disappointed at what they found along sidewalks and roads when it was over.
Although the team walked the parade route, collecting waste from parade goers, there was still significant garbage like candy wrappers and flyers left behind, scattered along the roads.
Judith Blanchette says that the team attends the parade in order to provide an alternative collection method for waste and recyclables at the event. Their goal is to divert waste from Muskoka’s landfill and prevent plastic pollution from ending up in lakes and rivers.
There are no longer streamers at the event after The Green Team voiced their concern about the unnecessary litter it creates. “However, the candy litter is still a huge problem. It’s not Halloween!” says Blanchette.
Blanchette notes that the current waste diversion rate (the rate that garbage gets diverted from landfill) is only 39 per cent when it should be at least at 60 per cent.
Still, year by year, at the parade at least, it gets better.
“Years ago a friend and I noticed all of the waste left behind after a Santa Claus parade,” says Blanchette. “From then on, the Green Team has taken care of all the litter sorting and recycling. With each passing year of us offering a recycling option with our bins walking alongside the parade, there has been significantly less litter that we pick up after the parade.”
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- Members of The Green Team at the 2018 Santa Claus Parade
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- Members of The Green Team at the 2018 Santa Claus Parade
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- The litter collected at the parade before being sorted…
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- …and after
Blanchette, who has been an environmental activist in Huntsville since 2004, says the team’s overarching mission is “to have all ages, from all sectors of society, working together towards a more ecologically literate, competent and responsible Huntsville, focusing on waste management and diversion.”
The Green Team became a registered non-profit in 2016 in hope of obtaining grants to aid their impact in the Muskoka region.
The Green Team welcomes new members. For more information, contact Judith Blanchette at [email protected].
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Our community is indeed blessed to have Judith and her dedication to environmental sustainability. I would be surprised if Huntsville Public School hasn’t instructed their students on this topic; as they seem to always be ahead of the curve. Irwin Public School in Dwight seems to be equally engaged in matters of current importance. But all the schools have to take responsibility for ingraining responsibility for the environment into their students at the earliest possible age. Adults have to educate themselves; adolescents have to educate themselves; youngsters and pre-teens have to be educated. Then our entire Town will respect the environment as second nature: Every paradigm shift ideally begins at the bottom.
Good job Green Team , I commend you for your efforts!