Litter-filled streets a problem in Winnipeg this time of year: community activist

As the warm spring weather continues to melt the snow, Winnipeggers are reminded of the less appealing side of the changing season.

Litter hiding beneath the snow is a problem in Winnipeg as April comes around, and this year is no different.

“This is the worst time of the year for seeing litter because the snow is melting and it’s been six months of people leaving stuff on the ground,” said Tom Ethans, the executive director of Take Pride Winnipeg.

The community organization has started its annual spring clean-up. Ethans says the streets are especially dirty this year.

“We’ve been through about half the city so far but again it’s hard to judge exactly how much litter is under the snow and when we do see litter like this, we know there’s even more underneath this,” he said. “It’s a matter of getting that snow to melt and for us to see exactly how much litter is out there.”

Ethans says there are certain spots in the city that are particularly worse this season.

“Selkirk Avenue is bad,” he said. “You go by the Walmart on Empress, terrible. There’s so many streets and so many areas. It’s not just relegated to one area of the city, it’s all over.”

The organization provides bags and gloves to groups and individuals who choose to volunteer and help clean. This year, the group is hoping for a big volunteer turnout as COVID-19 restrictions have ended.

“A few years ago before COVID, we were getting about 20,000 volunteers in a year and that’s fantastic. We’d like to get back to that again and get everybody involved in going out,” said Ethans.

The City of Winnipeg said in a statement, “spring cleanup operations typically start around mid-April when temperatures are consistently above 0 degrees” and that more info will be released in the coming weeks.

Litter-filled streets is a big problem for dog walkers, too.

“Sometimes when I’m walking the dog, he finds old food and garbage on the road, licking it, trying to eat it and he could get sick later,” said one Winnipegger with a pooch.

“It’s just common decency to pick up after yourself,” added another. “I mean, I walk my dog, my dog’s still a puppy so he’s still learning ‘leave it and drop it,’ so he’s picking up everything.”

How can Winnipeggers help make the city cleaner? Ethans says it’s easy.

“They can make a difference by getting involved in helping, get a bag and go out and walk and pick up a piece of litter everyday, and sort of understand how important is that we have to work together to make our city and our province clean and beautiful,” he said.