Cleanup campaign off to sparkling start

Ottawa’s springtime scrubbing has begun.
As the melting snow reveals months’ worth of accumulated litter in city parks, schoolyards and other public spaces, thousands of local volunteers will be working through a community project to clean it all up.
Cleaning the Capital project manager Kari Keays said that by yesterday about 21,000 volunteers had pledged to help with 331 local projects.
“That’s really a good start. It’s close to where we were last year. While it was a little behind, we’re certainly picking up.”
The one-month campaign officially begins April 15. Keays said people can sign up for a variety of projects, ranging from litter pickup in a neighborhood park to raking leaves in their own yard.
According to Sue Cannon,with the Corkery Community Association, the cleanup is a matter of keeping their streets, fields, and playgrounds safe and presentable.
“It’s not a big deal or a lot of work. That’s not how we see it,” said Cannon. “People are assigned whatever they chose to do, whether it’s cleaning behind the fire hall or the soccer field.”
The city is handing out supplies to help clean graffiti, as well. This year Community Pride program co-ordinator Paul McCann expects to hand out more than 50,000 bags and gloves to volunteers.
– tim.wieclawski@metronews.ca