Community group needs help clearing Winnipeg streets of litter
With the spring weather thawing out the city, Winnipeggers are noticing something being left behind by the disappearing snow.
"I am noticing especially cigarette butts, lots of coffee cups and beer cans in the ditch," said one person walking downtown.
"A lot of plastic bags, coffee cups, mostly," said another person.
While the litter-lined lanes might look unpleasant right now, it will only get worse.
Tom Ethans, the executive director of Take Pride Winnipeg, said there's still several times more garbage than you can see right now trapped in the snow.
He said the pandemic changed what kind of trash is being dumped, with PPE like masks becoming a common item, as well as where it's piling up.
"Because they are going to the parks and having picnics, because again, COVID, we found all the littering and recycling containers were overflowing, and the recycling containers were overflowing with non-recyclables," said Ethans.
Take Pride Winnipeg said it's already receiving lots of requests from schools and community groups wanting to help with the organization's yearly clean-up effort, but it needs more adult volunteers to help with a new program taking aim at the most common pieces of trash -- cigarettes.
"We are also looking for community groups that want to go out and pick up and collect cigarette butts, and then we are going to recycle them through a company called TerraCycle," explained Ethans. "So it's going to be a great project we are going to do."
Ethans expects Take Pride Winnipeg volunteers can collect more than a million butts.
"If every Manitoban went outside and picked up one piece of litter, that's over a million pieces of litter off the ground. So what's out there, let's get rid of it," added Ethans.
A message that resonates with people CTV News talked to.
"It's got to start somewhere, and it all starts with you," said another Winnipegger walking downtown. "You got to make the change. Stop throwing garbage out; stop putting it on the streets. There's always a garbage can that's not too far away."
Take Pride Winnipeg said there's still too much snow to conduct its yearly litter index, but it will be released in the coming months.
Anyone interested in volunteering with the organization can check out its website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.