Tom Ethans has been doing his part to get litter off city streets every Friday afternoon for the last few weeks.
“We are out delivering bags and gloves to schools, individuals and community groups that have signed up for our team to clean up,” said Ethans, the executive director of Take Pride Winnipeg.
The program has been running for several years.
After the preliminary work is over, Ethans is predicting a challenging few weeks once the snow melts.
“There are some really bad areas and they really need some help,” he said.
“Unfortunately, there still is a lot of snow and wet on the ground, so it makes it difficult to do the cleanups yet.”
Ethans hopes to be out in full force picking up garbage by the end of next week.
As far as the city of Winnipeg’s annual spring clean-up goes, early preparations are already underway.
“Crews are busy patching potholes. We’re thawing frozen catch basins, curb inlets and culverts too, so the water can run,” said Ken Allen, the communications coordinator for the city’s public works department.
“And of course, crews are still continuing to have to put salt down on the roadway at night to address any slippery conditions that might be occurring.”
City sweepers usually hit the streets towards the middle of April, but with snow in the forecast, Allen says they could be rolling out a little late this year.
“We use water when we’re sweeping streets. And so, you know, temperatures need to be above zero for us to do our dust suppression for the sweeping operation. And our crews will sweep the entire street network.”
A process is bound to spruce up Winnipeg’s streets in the near future.
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