The cameras might be fake, group says, but the P.E.I. litter problem is very real

It shouldn't be too much to ask of his fellow Islanders, Patrick Straw says.

If you eat fast food in your car, don't throw the wrappers out the window

When you finish your pop, don't throw the can in the ditch.

Take it home. Find a trash can. Recycle it.

Just please don't litter.

Stash your trash where it belongs, not in our ditches, says P.E.I. anti-littering group

4 days ago

Duration 1:46

A group of people who live on the South Shore of P.E.I. got so fed up with litterbugs in their area that they put up a sign tricking drivers into thinking they would be caught on camera if they threw trash out of their car windows. Even though the sign is now gone, the group's message remains the same, says Patrick Straw.

"It's not world-changing," he said. "It's just stopping garbage. That's all we want to do."

Yet every week, Straw and others in his South Shore, P.E.I., community are out picking up other people's garbage. It's become so frustrating they started their own website, Island Beautiful, to help raise awareness of the problem.

"We have an island that's primary beauty is why everybody comes here. And if it's the people that are living here because it's in the off-season that are throwing garbage around, it's just not good for anybody and it's certainly not good for tourism."

The group even put up a sign warning litterbugs they would be caught on camera. There were no actual cameras, Straw admits, but they thought it might discourage some people.

"Probably wasn't the best thought-out that idea we had because we didn't really take into consideration the privacy laws, but certainly got a lot of people's attention anyway."

That sign has since been replaced with an approved, standard government sign warning of a $200 fine for littering.

Straw hopes it will make a difference. It's especially bad — and dangerous — in the summer when he's riding his motorcycle and sees "a lot of fast-food garbage, particularly thrown out in the middle of the road."

"It's really noticeable when you're out on a bike that people just couldn't take the time, which I find very irresponsible, to take it home and throw it in the garbage or take it to a gas station. And in some cases it's a fairly substantial quantity, too. So that's kind of what got us thinking about maybe we can do something."

Straw said anyone interested in joining the group can contact them through the website.