BC couple spends 100 days a year searching backcountry for discarded cans and bottles

Central Okanagan Search and Rescue has received a donation from a pair of Good Samaritans who are keeping British Columbia’s backcountry clean.

Raymond Imbeau, 74, and his partner Barbara Kitz spend around 100 days a year searching the southern B.C. backcountry for discarded bottles and cans.

They use ATVs to get around and clean up the forests, but they also make sure that their efforts are helping in more way than one.

Each year, they donate the money earned from taking in those recyclables to a great cause.

In 2018, they’ve decided to donate the $700 they raised to COSAR and in year’s past they’ve helped Kelowna General Hospital, the Salvation Army’s disaster fund and more.

They’ve explored nearly every corner of southern B.C., from the Chilcotins in the west to the Columbia Icefields in the east and south to the U.S. border.

This year, they covered close to 2,500 kilometres and collected 8,000 refundable bottles, juice boxes, water bottles, pop cans and more.

That includes a single-day haul of 1,250 cans from a spot in the south Okanagan.

Imbeau and Kitz always go out prepared as well, making sure they never have to call a search and rescue team barring some sort of crazy emergency.

Their quads are equipped with navigation devices, a SPOT personal locator beach, radios, rope, food, water and survival gear.

They also file a trip plan before they ever venture into the backwoods.