Corner Brook trades cash for 45K coffee cups in May litter blitz
City shells out $2,300 Saturday in return for discarded cups collected around town
In April, the city said it would offer cash for cups at the end of May in an effort to clean up the mass of litter that crops up after snow has melted.
"I am totally shocked, I am totally shocked," says Coun. Tony Buckle who, when the idea was first proposed, expected just a couple of hundred cups to be turned in.
Saturday saw people of all ages turning over a month's worth of trash. And according to the city, more than 100 participants took part in the cleanup — individuals, families and organizations.
Corner Brook shelled out five cents per cup and, for an added incentive, scattered four mystery cups around town that had a value of $100.
Buckle said the cups filled three dumpsters and the payouts ranged from as little as $1.25 to as much as $125.
"The big incentive, I think, [is] people know that it's dirty around town — they want it cleaned up," he said. Buckle added that many picked up garbage, in addition to discarded cups.
This load is worth over $100 to the gentleman who picked them all up... worth so much more to the environment. Thanks so much <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CornerBrook?src=hash">#CornerBrook</a> <a href="https://t.co/R4qk4J8Igl">pic.twitter.com/R4qk4J8Igl</a>
—@charlespendercbAs of Saturday afternoon, four of the special $100-valued cups were still at large, Bukcle said.
Buckle plans to speak to the committee about this, and suggested he may give clues on where the cups are located.
Buckle hopes the new council elected this fall will keep the cash for cups initiative going in the future.
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with files from the Corner Brook Morning Show