Humber River 2014 Cleanup Recap

It was another great year for us, our partners, and volunteers. We want to send out a big THANK YOU to our the forty volunteers who joined us to help cleanup the Humber River. A big shoutout of thanks for our partners, Contiki Holidays, the Complete Paddler, TreadRight Foundation, and Tiered Response.

The efforts of everyone resulted in the collection and removal of 2.4 tonnes of junk. How Awesome is that? Some of the junk may have come from flooding but other junk, sadly, was  simply disposed of in the river and surrounding area. We cleaned up for the better part of a day but it shouldn’t stop there. We all should be proud of the amount of junk we removed but there is still more work to be done and more help and support required to protect the Humber River year round. 

We helped raise awareness regarding the Humber River’s junk situation and we are grateful for the efforts everyone put forth to get the word out and for the additional coverage we received from CTV News and Anwar Knight over the course of the day.

Some of the things that we collected ranged from the interesting to the strange/weird such as an old freezer, what appeared to be a severed head but was, in fact, just a wig, and a toboggan.

It was great to see so many people doing well by doing good. Lots of smiles.

You can count on us to be back next year and we hope we can count on you to join us. In the meantime, we will continue to raise awareness about the Humber River’s junk problem and ask that you continue to help spread the word.

Thanks!

Rick and the 1800 Rid-of-It Team

Join the Cleanup and Maybe Uncover History

On September 15th, 2014 we will be leading our fourth Humber River clean-up event to remove debris. Pollution has accumulated along and in the Humber River over the years and we feel it is critically important to do something about it. In past years, volunteers have removed as much as two tonnes of debris.

Can you join us? Do you know other people or businesses interested in seeing the Humber River cleaned up? Organizations such such as the Complete Paddler, Contiki Holidays, and TieredResponse are lending their support to the cause in a variety of ways. We welcome your support too.

This is just an example of the kind of debris to be found along the Humber River.

 If we band together we can clean it up and restore it to its original glory when people like those pictured below used it for travel and commerce.

 Uncovering a Bit of History

Our clean-up efforts last year led to the discovery of a historical plaque amidst the debris. The recovered plaque related to a trading post founded by Jean Baptiste Rousseaux (1758-1812) who, according to a provincial history website, was the first European to settle in the Toronto area. Rousseaux and his father served as interpreters for the Indian department and he served in Simcoe’s government until his death in 1812. (More information can be found at Ontarioplaques.com)

You can read about we were able to accomplish last year here. So please join us if you can and see how much clean-up can be accomplished in just a few hours. Here are the details regarding time and place. If you have questions then feel free to get in touch. You can reach us at info@ridofittoronto.com or 416-RID-OF-IT (743-6348).

When: Monday, September 15, 2014

Time: 8:30 AM

Volunteers meet at the rally point in the parking lot of the Petro Canada gas station/car wash (north of Queensway - off of South Kingsway. Map below)