Grassroots clean-up crew tackles massive mess in Edmonton's river valley

"Here's a garbage can with, ironically. nothing in it. That's kind of funny." 

Shawn Gray reaches down to pull up the grey garbage can sitting at his feet, looks down at a massive pile of garbage in the river valley and is quiet for a moment.

"I don't know about you but this is borderline terrifying to me." 

The 24-year-old says he's an avid hiker in the river valley and has always been compulsive about picking up garbage.

A few weeks ago, he was taking a stroll through the river valley when he stumbled upon the area that stopped him dead in his tracks. 

"It makes me feel incredibly sad. I'm under the belief that trees are living things, and I don't believe these trees deserve to have all this human waste in their habitat," said Gray. 

"Not only as an Edmontonian but as an Earthling... this isn't OK, this shouldn't happen."

So he decided to do something about it. 

Gray organized a Facebook event called "River Valley Clean Up" and started recruiting volunteers.

The grassroots event just kept growing until, two weeks later, Gray led his group through the bush down towards the trash. Gray was joined by about 30 people with extra large garbage bags in hand, braving the cold, damp Sunday morning to do Edmonton some good.

"I think we have a responsibility to keep where we live clean and we were just talking how we walk through the river valley, so we just want to clean it up," said Nicole Johnston as she plops a piece of trash into her garbage bag. 

Gray believes the area used to be a homeless camp that became a garbage dump.

He's emphatic he doesn't blame the people who caused the mess as it most likely was "a community left vulnerable and abandoned by a culture that doesn't have enough compassion."    

"A lot of people that have addiction and mental health issues just get left in the dust," said Gray.  

"People had been forced by society to live down here at one point." 

Gray instead figures it's up to the people that enjoy the area and nature to clean up the mess. 

"To me I feel like this is my responsibility," he said.

Gray hopes to make the River Valley Clean Up an semi-annual event in Edmonton, where he knows Good Samaritans are willing to get their hands dirty for a good cause.

"I was just the person to light the fuse, I was the match, but the tinder was already there," said Gray. 

"People have that motivation and desire, they just need someone to start it."