P.E.I. roads less littered: report

P.E.I.'s latest litter survey shows there's a lot less trash along Island roads, but tossed coffee cups and empty cans are still a problem.

The previous Roadside Litter Survey Reportwas donein 2005. The province did it again this year, in part, to find out the impact of lifting the so-called "can ban" longstanding regulations banning canned beverages in 2008.

In the spring, 100-metre stretches at 46 sites along rural highways, clay roads and city streets were surveyed.

Overall, there hasbeen a two-thirds drop in the amount of garbage along P.E.I.'s roadsides.

However, the number of tossed pop and beer canstripled since the can ban was lifted, moving cans up toNo. 2on the litter list.

This is the first time survey results have showed brands. Pepsi pop cans and Molson beer cans were the most common.

Meanwhile, with pop no longer sold in refillable glass bottles, the number of bottles found on the roadside was cut in half.

"I guess the one thing about a crushed can, it's a lot easier to clean up than a broken bottle, said Sarah Jane Bell, co-ordinator of the Southeast Environmental Association, the group commissioned by the province to undertake the study.

General paper and plastic waste used to be the most commonly found trash on the Island.

But theNo. 1spot now goes to coffee cups of which nearly half areTim Hortons cups.

The survey also singles out the trashiest sites on P.E.I.

Brookfield was the worst, followed by Cornwall, the Charlottetown bypass and Hazelbrook.

The SEAspeculates those places are where motorists who have bought takeout meals in Charlottetownfinish eatingand toss their trash.

"People are drinking their coffee and having their lunch on the way home, and once they get outside the city and their lunch is done, out goes the waste," said Bell.

"It needs to go to fines, but at the same time, you have to actually catch somebody throwing it out," said Bell. "Who does that and how do you prove it?A bylaw officer would have to catch somebody doing it, which could be tricky."