Facts

Who are we?

The TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup is a conservation initiative of the Vancouver Aquarium. For over 16 years, participants across the country have been removing harmful litter from their local shorelines - and sending us the data to prove it.

To find out more about what we've found, go to Past Cleanups.

What do we do?

The program allows and enables participants from all walks of life to be an environmental steward for a day.  By choosing a shoreline, participants can register to cleanup and record all the litter found at that shoreline. All data is returned to the Vancouver Aquarium for tallying.  All tallied data is forwarded to the International Coastal Cleanup to contribute to worldwide results.  In 2006, Canada was the 2nd largest cleanup in the world!

How did this whole thing start?

In 1994, a small group of Vancouver Aquarium employees headed down to a beach in Vancouver's Coal Harbour and removed litter and collected data for the International Coastal Cleanup.

When did it get so big?

In 2002 and thanks to our founding partner, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, the program expanded across the country.  Each year since, more and more shorelines in every province and territory are added to our database by our dedicated participants.

Why do we need to do this?

Last year, Canadians also removed 328,733 cigarette butts from our shorelines. Last year, Canadians removed 108,231 food wrappers and 62,405 plastic beverage bottles. These numbers rise every year, which means that Canadians still use our waterways for dumping grounds.  Until attitudes and behaviors around our shorelines change, we will continue to conduct the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.

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