More than 2,800 volunteers took to the paths on Sunday as part of Calgary’s 48th annual Pathway and River Cleanup event.
“It’s so important to have the volunteer support,” said Jaspreet Sandhu, City of Calgary environmental and education supervisor. ““It really demonstrates how important parks and greenspaces and the environment are to citizens.”
The city equipped the volunteers with gloves and garbage bags and tipping fees at City of Calgary landfills were waived for the collected litter.
“It’s really about getting the city ready for the summer,” said Sandhu. “Clean, vibrant and making sure garbage doesn’t get into our rivers.”
More than 200 kilometres of pathways, stretching through all quadrants of the city, were beautified on Sunday.
Ben Romero, a 13-year-old who volunteered alongside his fellow students from the Calgary Arts Academy, said he’s disappointed with the amount of litter which made its way to the Bow River pathway from neighbouring roads.
“I wonder why people throw (garbage) out their window,” asks Romero. “It’s not really that hard to wait and put things in the garbage can.”
During the 2014 event, volunteers located odd pieces of debris along the pathways including a $100 bill, an artificial Christmas tree, a coconut, numerous costumes and toys.
