Community Mask Clean-Up set for Sunday
By Lethbridge Herald on March 25, 2021.
The local crew of Will Woods, Alyssa Kusalik, Dave Kusalik Delilah Traber and Dennis Traber are part of the province-wide mask clean up initiative. Submitted photoTim Kalinowski
Lethbridge Herald
tkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com
A Lethbridge-based initiative is hoping to start a province-wide movement to encourage others to retrieve and dispose of improperly discarded face masks on community streets.
Community Mask Clean-Up will hold its province-wide mask clean up day on Sunday, and is expecting a strong turnout in Lethbridge.
“We’re just asking communities all across Alberta to participate in a community-wide clean-up, specifically of the masks,” says group spokesperson Candice Anderson. “Now, we are not discouraging anybody from cleaning up general garbage as well, but we would like it specific regarding the masks.
“Masks are an additional problem we are seeing with pollution,” she adds. “We are trying to bring attention to the fact the PPE has become an additional problem.”
Volunteers are asked to start collecting improperly disposed of masks in their own preferred area on Sunday starting at noon, and then convene at city hall for a final mask count at 4 p.m.
Anderson’s own family went out two weeks ago in Lethbridge, and she says the five of them collected 1,200 masks in three hours. She thinks with a broader volunteer base local residents can make a real dent in the city’s mask pollution problem.
“It’s everywhere on everybody’s property,” Anderson says. “It’s an eyesore. We have spoken to infection specialists, and they have stated the masks after disposal pose no risk as far as COVID is concerned. Though we still recommend people be using gloves, and caution, and hand hygiene, in regards to the retrieval of the masks.”
Anderson says this initiative is not intended as a political statement, it is merely a way for the community to come together to address a common problem.
“We are not wanting this to turn into any type of rally, or protest, or anti, or pro mask, vaccine or COVID stance,” she explains. “This is strictly intended as creating a unified front in Alberta about a common thread we can all agree on: which is we need to do more for our environment during these times.”
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Great idea! I’ve been picking them up and disposing of them a few times already and plan on participating Sunday.