A Fredericton woman who picks up litter on her lunch hour has been recognized as an environmental leader by the provincial government.

On Wednesday, Solange Theriault won this year's Environment Leadership Award in the category of individual citizen. The provincial award recognizes people, companies and organizations who work to enhance or protect the environment.

When Solange Theriault walks out of the building for lunch, she carries a bag and tidies up the mess left by other people.
(CBC)

Theriault does something any citizen could do but seldom bothers to: she picks up the Styrofoam plates, empty coffee cups and other detritus that thoughtless people have left behind.

Theriault started picking up trash years ago. She works for the Health Department in downtown Fredericton. When she walks out of the building for lunch, she carries a bag and tidies up the mess left by other people.

"I don't mind doing it," she said. "It's for our health, for the health of all of us, and for our environment."

Theriault started picking up trash years ago: 'I don't mind doing it. It's for our health, for the health of all of us, and for our environment.'
(CBC)

Environment Minister Roland Haché recognized Theriault and other winners at an awards ceremony in Fredericton. "One agency alone cannot always address every environmental need in every area of the province at once, and that's where you people come in," he said.

Mrs. Hansen's kindergarten class at Andover Elementary School won the youth award for picking up litter on their playground.

Theriault's recognition came because she has inspired other people to pick up trash and to stop littering in the first place.

She says litter picking has already inspired at least one person she knows about. 

"There was a mother and her son [on the sidewalk]. Her son saw me and he wanted to know what I was doing. He asked me, and I told him that it's for the environment and that it would be healthier for him," she said.

"After I told him, I noticed that when he was going with his mom, he started picking up garbage too. And I thought, see, he knows how healthy [it is] when we pick up garbage like that. It would be healthier for everyone."

The winners of the New Brunswick Environmental Leadership Award each get a pewter medal and a chance to inspire others.