Annual community cleanups underway in Calgary

Calgary’s annual spring Community Cleanup is underway, saving community residents a trip to the dump.

Those in the northwest community of West Hillhurst came together to toss unwanted items into the trash Sunday, taking their unwanted trash to the local community association instead.

“So we’re very lucky to be partnered with the city of Calgary. They go around to different community associations and offer garbage disposal through the packer trucks, which is amazing,” Susan Lenio, the manager of the West Hillhusrt Community Association, told CityNews.

“We’ll fill two to three of these packer trucks at our event.”

The cleanup events are on Saturdays and Sundays in numerous neighbourhoods in the city, which started on the weekend of April 27-28. It will continue until the weekend of June 29-30.

The packer trucks the city supplies also come with crews to help, and funds are also provided to help with any cleanup expenses for each of the events. The waste accepted is residential only.

For West Hillhurst, the “Spruce up the Neighbourhood” event took in clothes to be donated, had a bottle drive, and even received help from the Calgary Flames in relieving residents of their sporting goods.

“So we have cerebral palsy to take gently used goods. We’ve partnered with the Flames this year for sporting goods. We have bottle recycling, electronic recycling, household battery recycling, and paper shredding and so much more,” Lenio explained.

“So yes, we do a lot to kind of divert a lot of the garbage into other areas and help recycle.”

Communities that have already had cleanups include Canyon Meadows, Bankview, McKenzie Lake, Bowness, Acadia, Crescent Heights, and Bonavista.

Cambrian Heights, Signal Hill, and Sherwood also had cleanups Sunday.

More information on the city’s community cleanups can be found online.