Salutations! I am Seabinscuit, one of three seabins that have been placed into False Creek to dine upon the pollution-flecked trough of the river before your detritus can enter the Salish Sea.
Unlike my sociable sister, Skim Possible, who lives under the bustling docks at the Public Market on Granville Island, I inhabit the waters of a lesser-trafficked dock in Maritime Market Marina in Broker’s Bay with naught but feathered fiends for company. Oft-assailed with pigeon plumage as I may be, these wingèd sky vermin are the least of my problems.
Me hard at work in the heat of the summer!
Nay, the lion’s share of the pollution upon which I graze is borne from edifices of the modern age. Amidst the road into Granville Island and the high-traffic Granville Street Bridge highway, I am fed a revolting concoction of black sludge—the remnants of road and tire dust. Alas, you two-leggèd creatures have long since forsaken horseback travel, and I therefore must eat your dust.
Some of the smaller pieces in my trashy diet.
Time and again, I am also accosted with rubbish from boats and their conspirators—styrofoam chunks from docks, plastic shavings from repairs, pirate coins from watercraft tours—not to mention, scum and oil slicks galore.
A plague of pedestrian garbage descends from the seawall, raining cigarettes, plastic fragments, conveniently lost by-law infraction notices, and more upon me.
Thankfully, the Peter Wall Coastal Protection Initiative is enabling me (along with my two partners) to lead the charge against False Creek’s plastic pollution problem. Dedicated as they are, they will even be adding nine team members to our superb roster during the following years.
My lunch getting analyzed in one of FRK's bi-weekly waste characterization sessions!
Fortuitously, the Peter Wall Coastal Protection Initiative’s support for the Vancouver Plastic Cleanup allows us to rein in pollution and restore our waterways to their former glory, while supporting citizen science projects, improving sewage and waste-water infrastructure, and boosting coastal water protections in and around Vancouver.
I yearn for the day that I must masticate your garbage no longer, for the day when no more plastic or debris enters my belovèd False Creek—and the cherished local waters where you go boating, kayaking, sailing, and more.
