Kingston community protects local shoreline and waterway during first-ever Great Lakes Coastal Clean-up event

On World Rivers Day, Sept. 28, volunteers gathered at Richardson Beach, and a satellite location at Confederation Park, for the first-ever Great Lakes Coastal Clean-up.

Kingston joined five other cities—Chatham-Kent, Cobourg, Collingwood, Owen Sound and Thunder Bay—in a simultaneous shoreline clean-up spanning all the province’s Great Lakes.

The event emerged out of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a binational coalition of communities along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. The Initiative works with mayors and municipal staff to protect and preserve the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin at the local, regional and basin-wide levels.

“Kingston is proud to be part of this united effort to protect and preserve our shared shorelines. Events like the Coastal Clean-up show how communities can come together to make a real, local impact,” says Mayor Bryan Paterson. “Thank you to all the volunteers and local partners who gave their time and energy to help keep our waterfront clean and healthy for future generations.”

The City of Kingston’s participation in the Great Lakes Coastal Clean-up connects to Strategic Plan priority, Lead Environmental Stewardship and Climate Action. The event was made possible through the financial contribution of the Government of Ontario’s Great Lakes Local Action Fund.

The success of the Coastal Clean-up was made possible thanks to the incredible support of local partners, such as Downtown Kingston, Neptune & Salacia Diving, Ahoy Rentals, the Great Lakes Museum, Sustainable Kingston, the Kingston Yacht Club and Swim Drink Fish – they all played a vital role in making the event a meaningful and impactful day for the community.

Quick facts

• 115 volunteers attended Kingston’s clean-up event.
• Community volunteers collected over 400kg of litter along the shoreline.
• With the help from volunteers, Neptune & Salacia Diving captured floating debris and below-water items, including 40 tires and over 1,000kg of debris.

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About the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative is a binational coalition of over 325 municipal and regional U.S. and Canadian mayors and local officials working to advance the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin. The Cities Initiative and local officials integrate environmental, economic and social agendas and sustain a resource that represents approximately 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater supply, provides drinking water for 40 million people, and is the foundation upon which a strong regional economy is based. Members of the Cities Initiative work together and with other orders of government and stakeholders to improve infrastructure, programs and services and increase investments that protect and restore this globally significant freshwater resource.