Volunteers with the Earth Ninjas found plenty of evidence of drinking and driving while they were picking up trash along a roughly one-kilometre stretch of Eighth Avenue in Aldergrove on Sunday morning, Feb. 25.
Earth Ninjas founder Jocelyn Titus said the two-hour cleanup between 264th and 272nd Streets found a 鈥渓ot of alcohol cans [and] bottles.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of people are drinking and driving and it鈥檚 everywhere,鈥� Titus told the 91原创 Advance Times.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a new thing, sad to say.鈥�
During the couple hours that Titus and volunteers Doug Deschene and Laura Smith, all Aldergrove residents, were hunting litter, they removed 10 bags with 320 lbs. of trash.
It was far from ideal weather conditions, wet, windy, and cold.
鈥淭he poster said rain or shine, so we had to stick to it,鈥� Titus laughed.
Deschene, who confided he was 鈥渃oming up on 82,鈥� was resuming his volunteer work with Earth Ninjas after taking some time off to have a pacemaker installed.
During the past four years of picking up litter, Deschene said they鈥檝e collected everything from furniture to electronics and bicycles, all dumped in ditches.
Two weeks ago, while picking up litter along Robertson Crescent, he said they found a 鈥渂rand new package of underwear鈥� still in its plastics wrap.
Another time, a brand-new lawn mower, probably stolen, was discovered, and turned over to police.
READ ALSO: VIDEO: 3,300 cigarette butts picked from downtown Aldergrove
Over a three year period, he estimated they have collected about 4,000 pounds of garbage.
Deschene said a perennial annoyance is Styrofoam, which gets chewed up into tiny, hard-to-collect fragments when road crews using mowers to cut grass also shred the discarded packing.
Earth Ninjas, a non-profit volunteer initiative, has been organizing community litter cleanups since 2020.
They expect to be out again in April, for Earth Day.
People interested in helping can contact Titus by emailing Earthninjas604@gmail.com or online at or their Facebook page at
An online Earth Ninja mission statement says 鈥渨e鈥檙e trying to change other鈥檚 habits and bringing awareness to all the litter left within our community. We know change starts from the ground up, for our kids, our friends, our neighbors and our planet. We鈥檝e got a passionate team of volunteers behind us, a community by our side and just enough bold hope and trashy determination to make a difference.鈥�
READ ALSO: Earth Ninja founder looking for help to haul Aldergrove鈥檚 trash to the dump
