Young Londoners roll up their sleeves for Earth Day clean-up at Westminster Ponds

Diapers, coffee cups and cigarette butts were among the thousands of items that filled close to 20 large garbage bags after an Earth Day clean-up in south London on Tuesday.

About 40 people, including high school students, gathered at the Westminster Ponds, near Wellington and Commissioners Roads, to tidy the area in the morning.

"The environment is very important to me," said Grade 10 student Chelsea Mott. "I grew up walking these ponds. I really like the outdoors, and I really care for it."

She and some of her classmates from Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School were among those who spent an hour walking along the ponds' trails, picking up pet waste bags, fast food packaging and drug containers.

"Some of the stranger items we found were diapers, a lot of metal and glass, which is concerning because those items tend to take a lot longer to decompose than most other items," said Grade 10 student Ava Hastie.

The finds were among pieces of garbage that are commonly known problems for the environment, co-organizer Michelle Jones said.

"Garbage bags are still a big one we see today," said Jones, the manager of programs at ReForest London. "Those will get caught in trees where animals will often eat them. You'll also see them in turtle intestines and fish intestines."

"Small pieces of plastic that look like rocks are also a really common one that birds will pick up," she added.

The clean-up is one of several happening in the city throughout April as part of the London Clean & Green Campaign, which aims to reduce litter around Earth Day.

"The environment should be kept, not only for us but also for the other animals and all the vegetation that grows here," said Grade 10 student Raquel Gonçalves. "If we're taking stuff from it, we have to at least give something back."

Participants and organizers both agreed there are ways for Londoners who missed the clean-up to take action on Earth Day.

"Even if you can't attend one of these events, just picking up stuff around your neighbourhood would also greatly help the environment," said Hastie.

Co-organizer Kaitlin Creighton from the London Environmental Network said Londoners' environmental efforts should go beyond this month.

"It's amazing to get out and celebrate on Earth Day, but you can really take action every single day," Creighton said.

"You'd be surprised by just taking 20 minutes, grabbing a garbage bag and going out in your neighbourhood. Just little actions like that every day help make a difference."