Volunteer group cleaning up dirty needles around Sudbury

Justin Ouellette was moved to action more than three weeks ago.

That's when his nieces and nephews found discarded needles at their neighbourhood playground.

Now the Sudbury man and other volunteers go out regularly to look for and pick up used drug needles and other waste lying within sight.

The group is called the Greater Sudbury Allies.

Ouellette says with a full-time job he is only able to get out for about one hour after work.

"We've found them under benches, in and around playgrounds, definitely behind and under dumpsters," he said referring to used syringes.

Ouellette says his reason for going out regularly is to make sure play areas are safe for all children.

"There's kids out there that play...you want to make sure it's safe for them."

The volunteers with Greater Sudbury Allies follow safety measures during their cleanup efforts. They wear latex gloves at all times, and use long grabbing instruments to pick up the needles and tongs for the waste. They also bring along a sharps container to put the syringes in.

Ouellette says he's not afraid of catching any illness from dirty needles.

"It's always a possibility, but I find there's a far greater gain than there would be a negative impact," he said referring to having a cleaner, safer community.

Not surprised

Group member Solange Lefebvre says she thinks Greater Sudbury needs more mental health services to help with the addiction problems around the city.

"Surprised, not particularly. Baffled, maybe yes. There's more than I actually would have imagined in more concentrated areas," she said referring to the number of needles the group has found since they started their efforts.

In three weeks, the group has filled five to six sharps containers with the needles they've collected.

"There's about 200 in each, about 1000 roughly so far. In three weeks," Lefebvre said.

Children know needles are dangerous

The group's president, Trista Smith, says she wants a safer, cleaner community for her three children, ages 8, 6 and 3.

"My six and eight year old are aware of their surroundings, and they do know what to watch for. They know that [needles are] dangerous. They know minimal details for their age, but they know to be proactive when they're walking."

Smith says she tries to get out every two days, usually in the evening or on weekends, to help with cleanup efforts.

"We do have fantastic agencies already doing [needle cleanup], but they're short for volunteers. So the more of us who get together to help, the cleaner the areas would be, and the more welcoming everything would seem," she said.

SACY already picking up syringes

The Sudbury Action Centre for Youth (SACY) has the contract with the city to pick up discarded needles.

The agency's community support team works daytime hours, Monday to Friday.

The trained workers wear bright blue shirts that have the logo on them, as a way to identify themselves. They use protective safety gear and tools to collect the needles.

"They're going throughout our community, especially to the known areas that tend to have a lot of usage and they're cleaning up the needles," said interim executive director Julie Gorman.

She says although the figures vary depending on the season or the area of the city, the SACY team could be picking up as many as 100 syringes at one park, on one visit.

Support bittersweet, SACY says

Gorman says volunteer groups taking matters into their own hands is "bittersweet".

"We definitely appreciate the support. We understand that sometimes needles might not be brought to our attention or it might be outside of our work hours," she said.

However, there is a concern about health and safety.

"You could walk into a live campsite, where there's people there that want to protect themselves. You don't know what you're stepping on. You may not have the same training we have," Gorman said.

She adds that when others pick up needles on their own it affects the results that SACY has to report back to the municipality.

"When I'm giving my official pickup count back to the City of Sudbury they start asking me how come we're seeing that so many [needles] were given, but we're not seeing the same amount come back now? And it's because of the groups that are taking it upon themselves to help clean our community that we don't have those numbers," Gorman said.

Anyone who does find discarded needles should call 3-1-1 or the SACY office with the location information.

The SACY community support team is then dispatched immediately to remove the unwanted waste.

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