While there may still be snow on the ground, the City of Grande Prairie is getting ready for its annual spring cleaning. This year’s City Scrub will be held from April 22nd to 30th, with organizations and volunteers from across the city helping to pick up garbage that has built up over the winter.
“The whole City Scrub mission is to get rid of the winter grime that builds up under all of that snow to restore the city back to its original shine,” explains Environmental Outreach Specialist Jessica Foley.
Last year, more than 14 tonnes of garbage were collected by 8,000 volunteers. In addition to litter, Foley says they also pick up things like fridges and appliances that have been abandoned in alleys. Large parking lots can also pose a problem.
“When they do their plowing through there, there’s a lot of garbage that just kind of sticks to the snow, and then when they plow through there they get these huge mountains of snow,” Foley explains. “The garbage is still in there, and I know the piles stick around longer than well into May.”
Cleanup efforts will continue into the spring to take care of anything revealed by further melt. The Grande Prairie Airport currently has a record amount of snow on the ground at 61 centimetres as of April 11th. The previous record was 56 centimetres in 1974.
“If you have 20 minutes of spare time that you can get out there and enjoy the weather and maybe meet some other City Scrubbers, it’s a good event to take part in,” Foley says.
Anyone interested in getting involved in City Scrub can do so online or by contact Environmental Services.