London’s Clean and Green initiative back for 23rd year

Break out the garbage bags and disposable gloves — London’s Clean and Green initiative is back for another year.

Officials kicked off the 23rd edition of the program at Goodwill Industries on Horton Street on Tuesday.

“We do all this because we want to spruce up London,” said Jay Stanford, director of environment, fleet and solid waste for the city of London.

As part of the initiative, the business community will be taking part in a “20 Minute London Makeover” on April 20, with the larger annual Clean and Green Cleanup Day to take place on April 21.

In the days leading up to the event, Stanford said there will be events aimed at promoting litter prevention.

While there are no rules to the cleanups, Stanford is asking everyone to simply get involved.

Since it launched as a single-day event in 1996, Stanford says the event has grown substantially.

“It grew from a small group of maybe 30 business people in downtown London to now, where we see cleanups happen on a regular basis heading into our two big days,” he said.

“We hear about small and large neighbourhood events happening all across this entire city.”

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More information can be found at londoncleangreen.ca

– With files from Jaclyn Carbone and Matthew Trevithick