Butt patrol, June 19, 2025 and a reminder: cigarettes can start fires!

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Another butt patrol completed today. My dustbin went missing, so I used a bucket from under the kitchen sink, where most buckets naturally live.

Butts, bills, and other bits.

Remember, there is no smoking on Copperstone property. In theory, that means my butt patrol should always come up empty, but sadly that never happens.

It’s even more important now to not leave butts on the ground. We’re entering the dry season, and a cigarette butt tossed onto dry grass could smoulder and potentially start a fire. This can be unsightly at best and dangerous at worst.

My advice is to quit smoking. It’s hard, I know! But think of the benefits:

  • You’ll save a lot of money
  • You’ll be healthier, feel better and probably live longer
  • You’ll smell nicer

Also, butt-adjacent: Please don’t leave litter on the property. Take pride in your home and put litter in a trash receptacle.

The unexpectedly long cigarette butt patrol

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I noticed a collection of cigarette butts had once again accumulated on the drain at the top of the stairs leading to Allen Street, so I got the picker and dustbin and headed out for a quick clean-up.

While out, I noticed the landscaping company had cut down the wild grass growing along the property on Brunette Avenue. We’d done a pretty thorough clean-up of this area during the May 10 community cleanup, but I figured the cut grass would reveal more “treasures”, so I headed over to have a look.

I was right! Among the cigarette butts, I found:

  • Paper and plastic cups (someone really liked Super Slurpees)
  • An old sign
  • Glass and plastic bottles
  • Wrappers of all sorts
  • Cardboard
  • Creamers. Apparently someone stood in the shade of one of the trees and drank coffee with a lot of cream in it.
  • Styrofoam food containers
  • An empty asparagus (!) box
  • And, as they say, so much more

There was so much stuff I filled the dust bin twice, then upgraded to a crate and filled it up, too. There are probably more bits of stuff stuck in the piles of cut grass now, but definitely less than before.

Photos:

Dust bin #1. This is when I figured it might take more than a few minutes.
Dust bin #2.
The crate.

Copperstone Community Cleanup Day (May 10, 2025): Success!

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The morning of May 10th was gray and drizzly, but that didn’t stop a good turnout of Copperstone residents, including three council members, for the first Copperstone Community Cleanup Day. You can see the notice for the event below.

Copperstone Community Clean Up Day Poster-2Download

After assembling and gathering our tongs, pickers, brooms and buckets, we split off into several groups and worked our way around and through the Copperstone complex, picking up assorted bits of trash, cigarette butts, as well as some more unusual items like old advertising signs, chunks of metal and more. In the end, we filled multiple buckets with garbage, leaving the complex and surrounding area much tidier than before.

Thanks to everyone who took part and to council member Ben who spearheaded the idea, and took part. The only improvements for next time would be:

  • More photos! Everyone was too busy cleaning. There are worse problems, I suppose. 🙂
  • More notice! We actually had good turnout with the relatively short notice, but more notice is better.
  • Agree on a rendezvous point at the end, so we can get everyone in the group photo. Next time!
Just some of the residents who took part, celebrating their victory in cleaning up the area. Council member Desiree is on the left, organizer and council member Ben is second from the right. Not seen: Me, because I took the photo.

Council member Jeff spent his time fixing the corner of one of the courtyard planters that had faced the back (or front) end of one too many vehicles.

The after shot, with the stones back in place.

Ironically, Jeff fixed it again exactly one week later when it got run into again. It now has a pole next to it with reflective tape. Hopefully this helps!

Take two, with the stones back in place again! And now a pole with reflective tape.

Cleaning up the stairs (possibly for the first time!)

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Now that the path along the hospital lane is open again, Jeff thought it was a good time to take some brooms and a hose to the concrete stairs that connect from the path down to Copperstone.

It took quite a bit of work to clear off the years of accumulated dirt, twigs and other junk, but now the stairs are clean, and our plan is to keep them that way going forward.

Here’s a small gallery showing the results, with the first shot being before the big hose-down began.