people clean out a winter's worth of detritus from their homes.
But as that snow melts, it also reveals a winter's worth of detritus on the roadside, in the shrubs, and in the parks, most of which was legitimately blown around by winter winds and not caused by people littering, according to Town of Stettler's Lee Penner.
“The wind grabs trash and just blows it away,” Penner said.
Every year, groups come out in force to help the town's staff clean up the community during Earth Week, April 20-24, something for which the town is very grateful, Penner noted.
“It would take weeks of all our staff working around the clock to do what these people do,” he said. “This leaves staff free to get the recreation facilities ready.”
With summer sports quickly approaching, getting soccer fields and baseball diamonds in playing condition is a priority for recreation staff, Penner admitted.
The Earth Week Cleanup's home base is at the recreation centre, where volunteers can pick up garbage bags and gloves. Registering at the centre also helps staff keep groups from overlapping and trying to clean the same location.
“We'll sometimes have church groups, for example, who want to clean a park near their church,” Penner explained. “They'll just show up there and someone else has already cleaned it.”
The week ends with a free barbecue at No Frills on April 24, sponsored by Newalta, for those who helped keep the community looking beautiful.