Fifty-five City of North Battleford employees from City Hall, Public Works, Parks, Recreation, Fire, and Municipal Enforcement hit the ground running with garbage bags and trash sticks in an effort to clean up as much litter as possible Wednesday.
In strong gusty winds, they covered approximately 40 kilometres around city entrances and in a large field.
City Manager Jim Puffalt joined one of the three crews.
"According to stats kept by our parks foremen, we collected about 375 bags of garbage, each weighing about 20 pounds, which totals about 7,500 pounds of litter," said Puffalt.
"Our staff was incredible as we worked through very difficult conditions to get as much done as possible. It was great teamwork with employees from every City department working together to achieve this."
Garbage collected included: sheets of plywood, signage, underwear, socks, wood, fast food containers, paper coffee cups, diapers, an outdated endorsed cheque, cash, gas caps, candy wrappers, a cellphone, animal carcasses, hubcaps, car parts and bottles.
Littering is unnecessary, but unfortunately it continues to happen so Puffalt said the City Clean-Up Day will become an annual event.
"We all live here. It's up to all of us to keep our community clean and attractive. We needed to show leadership in the community and that we care. We would encourage businesses and residents to pick litter in open areas as well on their own property."
Residents are also encouraged to join other clean-up efforts, like the 6th annual Battlefords United Way Spring Clean-Up Saturday, May 10. Registration will be at 12:30 p.m. at the North Battleford Library. For more information on the spring clean up, contact the United Way at 306-445-1717.
