Picking up the pieces: 1,000 shorelines and counting to be cleaned
during TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup

Canadians continue to register in record
numbers for the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup (TD GCSC) with more than 1,000
unique shorelines in communities across Canada already set to benefit from a cleanup this
September. The TD GCSC is a national conservation initiative dedicated to removing harmful
litter from shorelines including ponds, streams, rivers, lakes and oceans and runs from
September 19-27, 2009. To date more than 40,000 Canadians are expected to cleanup
shorelines at over 1,050 sites.
“Participation in our shoreline cleanup has been growing by 20 per cent annually and in
September we expect 75,000 volunteers will remove litter from more than 2,000 kilometres of
shoreline,” said Mary Desjardins, Executive Director, TD Friends of the Environment
Foundation. “Despite our efforts, wherever water meets land is where you’ll find garbage.
Shorelines suffer from the actions of others and that’s why we’ll likely recover over 150,000
kilograms of garbage this year.”
“Canada is home to the world’s largest freshwater supply. And plastic debris found floating in
our waterways and on our shorelines can be fatal to marine life through ingestion or strangling,”
said Dr. John Nightingale, President, Vancouver Aquarium. “Thanks to the growing support our
cleanup receives from Canadians, when we all work together, we can ensure the health and
welfare of our wildlife, plants and other marine life.”
“When you factor in the possible impact of local garbage strikes on beaches, the monumental
task of removing litter from Canada’s shorelines may be facing its greatest challenge. The good
news is our shoreline cleanup is well on its way to another record-setting year,” adds
Desjardins.
Not registered yet?
Join the thousands of Canadians who will be participating in this year’s cleanup in a number of
ways such as:
- Volunteer as a Site Coordinator and lead a cleanup in your community. Register online at
www.tdgcsc.ca
- Join an existing cleanup team in your region by registering at www.tdgcsc.ca
- Twitter users can follow the TD GCSC at http://twitter.com/TDcleanshores
- Subscribe to the new TD GCSC e-newsletter at www.tdgcsc.ca/connect for the latest
cleanup news
- Visit www.tdgcsc.ca/connect to download the official TD GCSC e-mail signature to help
create awareness of this worthwhile cause with every e-mail you send; you can also pick-up
an official TD GCSC banner or avatar as well as site coordinator and participant “badges”
About the TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup
TD Bank Financial Group has been a proud sponsor of the TD Great Canadian Shoreline
Cleanup, a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program, through its TD Friends of the
Environment Foundation for more than 13 years. The TD GCSC began in 1994 as a small
beach cleanup with a handful of employees from the Vancouver Aquarium who wanted to
participate in the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. In 2008, a recordbreaking
63,491 Canadians registered for the national cleanup and removed 135,467 kilograms
of garbage from 1,531 sites spanning a collective distance of 2,152 kilometres. Now in its 16th
year, this year’s TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup takes place from September 19-27,
2009. For more information or to register please visit www.tdgcsc.ca.