Help keep East York and Riverdale clean with 20-minute makeover

Joe Cooper

April 12, 2007

With all of the cold and snow that has been taking place over the past week, it was a bit of a shock to see some real flowers sprouting up on a Leaside lawn.

Some hardy crocuses came into bloom early this week, making use of whatever warmth and sunshine was available to become alive.

The robins are back as well, which is a definite harbinger of spring, even if they do look a bit discouraged with the continuing cold temperatures.

While we wait for the weather to become more spring-like, there are two events happening next week that you should definitely mark on your calendar.

These are Mayor David Miller's annual initiatives to clean up Toronto and they will take place on two separate days.

The first event is being held Friday, April 20 and is called the 20-Minute Toronto Makeover.

Miller is asking people to take 20 minutes during the day to work individually or in groups to clean up around their office, school, home or local neighbourhood.

The idea is to make the big job of keeping your community clean more manageable by breaking it up into smaller tasks, so it really won't be a burden.

More importantly, it is always good to have people work together to help keep that all-important sense of community alive.

Individuals do not have to register for this event, and can simply add the garbage they collect to their regular garbage pickup (though remember that regular bag limits still apply).

Large groups or organizations are asked to register with the city before April 17 by calling 416-392-7899 if they live in East York or Riverdale.

You will need to do this in order to be supplied with special lime-coloured garbage bags and a single set of gloves (while supplies last).

When you register as a group, the city will ask for the number of people who will be participating and then work out with you where to place the special coloured bags for garbage pick up.

The garbage you collect during the event will be picked up on a special garbage collection day and city crews will only collect material packed in those lime-coloured garbage bags.

This is done in order to prevent people from misusing the community cleanup to dispose of hazardous waste or inappropriate personal garbage by using regular garbage bags.

This year, the bags and gloves will be distributed at Pizza Pizza, Tim Hortons and McDonald's as well through local community centres, in order to make participation easier.

If you are more ambitious, you can set aside Saturday, April 21 to do a big community event where a large cleanup is undertaken in a large community area or park.

In this case you are asked to register before April 16 so the city can ensure you will have enough of the special garbage bags for the event and to arrange garbage pick up on that specific day.