Residents in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood are fed up with litter and took matters into their own hands after a video shared on Facebook showing a parade of garbage lining a back alley went viral.
The video was posted on April 4 and has since been viewed more than 123,000 times in a little over two weeks.
“When I saw the video, I was like this really needs to get done,” said Jackie Tanner, who lives in the area.
The North Central Community Association usually organizes annual community cleanups, but that’s not happening until June.
Tanner didn’t want to wait, so she organized her own neighbourhood cleanup through the North Central Community Clean Up Facebook page.
“I figured spring is the time when we really need it, when the snow melts, that’s when you see it all,” Tanner said. “We’ve got people driving down 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue, they’re important streets and they’re littered. Nobody wants to see that.”
On Friday, more than a dozen volunteers armed with gloves hit the pavement, picking up everything from clothing to food wrappers, even needles.
Many of the volunteers, like Tanner, also live in the area and say it’s not unusual for piles of garbage to accumulate.
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“There are some areas where people from other neighbourhoods come and dump in this neighbourhood which is left for us to clean up,” volunteer Tara Molson said.
Tanner is also flagging broken garbage bins and focusing on education to help curb excess waste.
“Many people are using their recycling bin as their garbage bin because they don’t actually know what can get recycled,” Tanner said. “So we’re going to try and educate people on that as well.”
The group is also getting lots of support from the community and local businesses who are donating money, food and gift cards. The landfill fees are also being covered.
The clean up is expected to wrap up Sunday with volunteers meeting in the 1200 block of Angus Street starting at 8 a.m.
“Ideally I want to get the whole North Central done,” Tanner said. “I want to start from zero so we can get the whole thing cleaned up and then from there at least we have a place to start.”
“If the place you live is clean, you have more pride in yourself.”
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