Love Your Lakes

Help Us Protect the Lakes We Love

Since 2016 we have picked up

1,338,569

pieces of litter through the Love Your Lakes Program

What is the Love Your Lakes Program?

From Niagara to Kingston we clean up shorelines to help clean the environment of pollution and waste.

Each spring we embark on an adventure across the Lake Ontario watershed. We invite local community members, students, and corporate partners to join us in over 100 locations to complete litter cleanups around the Great Lakes.

We engage hundreds of volunteers across Ontario in this program to raise awareness around plastic pollution and educate communities on the impact of litter in our Lakes.

Check out our 2024 Results

Love Your Lakes 2024 Report by Mara Mahmud

WHAT OUR VOLUNTEERS HAVE TO SAY:

It has been such a great experience in so many ways, just working with the organization, connecting with people in my community and to a certain extent feeling like I am making a difference…but it's about collective action. The more people we get out here the bigger difference we make and even more importantly the greater awareness we bring to everyone. It really is a group effort helping to fix our planet, to clean it up.

- Lee S.
I would 1000% recommend volunteering with A Greener Future, for anyone looking to develop new skills and make a difference within your community, meet some new people. You will find that and more with this organization and will not regret it. They are very welcoming and supportive in everything.

- Eilish N.
...you see the amount that you can collect with all the volunteers together; the number of litter pieces we’ve collected so far it's unreal! It's a great impact and the team is wonderful…it really shows how a small group of individuals can have a big positive impact…I am looking forward to continuing on with them in the years to come.

-. Tanya K.

Love Your Lakes Litter Statistics

Since 2016, we’ve learned a lot about the types of litter polluting our shorelines. We collect data on all of the litter we find, so we know exactly what we’re picking up. This way, we can see trends and come up with informed solutions. Most notably, plastic pollution is a HUGE issue - nearly 90% of the litter we collect is estimated to be made of plastic or contain plastic components.

Plastic litter breaks down when exposed to the elements and contributes to microplastic pollution in the Great Lakes. To learn more about how you can reduce single-use plastics and prevent waste from entering the environment, be sure to visit our Action Guide.