Aldergrove鈥檚 own Earth Ninjas, created by Jocelyn Titus, held a bottle drive to raise money for the purchase of a plastic shredder last month.

Titus hopes to use the shredder to repurpose plastic found during her weekly clean-ups and within the community.

鈥淚鈥檝e been doing Earth Ninja for over a year-and-a-half. This year鈥檚 bottle drive hasn鈥檛 been as big as last year, where we raised $4,000. This year we鈥檒l probably raise about $600. We just have people drop off bottles whenever they want and keep returning it to the bottle depot,鈥� Titus said. 鈥淗aving the drop off for a length of time makes it a lot easier, so I just take my bags to the Express Depot and wait for the money to come in.鈥�

Jocelyn commented that a plastic shredder would cost about $8,000 to $10,000. She may purchase a Precious Plastic shredder, which offers blueprints online for free.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not gonna be a big scale shredder, but for now we鈥檙e just trying to recycle what we have and repurpose it. I was thinking I can repurpose it to create Earth Ninja stars, and use that to build community support and activism with some kind of redemption system,鈥� Titus said.

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The Earth Ninja began bottle drives last year with a context that Plastic Oceans Canada had where whoever in BC held the largest bottle drive would win a trip to Tofino.

The winner could visit the city and learn about plastic and its effects on the environment. Titus donated $4,000 and won the trip, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to COVID-19.

鈥淭his is just my passion 鈥� I love helping the community. It鈥檚 a good feeling. It鈥檚 my way of giving back in hopes that more people are willing to get involved so that we can make a bigger impact,鈥� Titus explained.

Titus first began the group as Cleaning Up Aldergrove. She felt as though she wasn鈥檛 thinking big enough, and eventually transformed the group to Earth Ninjas, which can be held anywhere.

鈥淢y average clean-up usually has around four to six people. I always have weekly Saturday clean-ups, and my volunteers range from ages 14 to 79.鈥� She wants people in the community to get involved. 鈥淎nyone can pick up litter, but I want to go for the impact. I want at least a core group of 20 people that are willing to make an impact and affect the community. During our last clean-up we found 32 bags worth of trash.鈥�

Jocelyn is planning on having a four-day litter-thon again this year where she will spend the day picking up litter from one city to another.

People will join her on the journey to help, and they keep going as far as they can. Visit for more.