Volunteers, City of Toronto crews out cleaning up surge in litter seen during COVID-19

A little more than a month into spring in Toronto, hundreds of community cleanups are set to occur across the city on the weekend and it comes amid a surge in litter as more people are out and about during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Scarborough’s West Rouge neighbourhood, Grade 5 William G. Davis Junior Public School student Sam Crewe has been on a mission to clean-up his community.

“I’ve been picking up bottles, candy wrappers, plastic, sometimes there [are] some cigarettes,” he told CityNews on Friday while participating in an Earth Day cleanup.

Every day for the past two weeks on his way to and from school, and every recess, he’s been walking around the schoolyard and nearby areas with kitchen tongs and a bag to pick up litter.

“It makes me feel good about myself,” he said.

“I wanted to do this because I play in my neighbourhood. There’s a forest near my neighbourhood. I play in the forest. I see a lot of garbage.”

He also goes out when he’s not in school with his mother. Two of his classmates and friends have also followed his lead. But on Friday, several classes in different grades fanned out into the community.

Students from Grades 1 and 2 cleaned up the school grounds while a Grade 6 class and educators cleared a greenspace near businesses nearly a kilometre away from the school.

The school was one of more than 20 that participated in cleanups and it came ahead of a huge community effort. As part of the municipality’s Clean Toronto Together initiative, approximately 55,000 volunteers are scheduled to participate in around 1,100 cleanups.

“In a perfect world we’d love to see that we don’t need a Clean Toronto Together campaign. We’d like to see that this whole initiative isn’t necessary. The best option is to not create litter in the first place… however, that’s not the case,” Nancy Ruscica, the manager of outreach and engagement for the City of Toronto’s environment and energy division, told CityNews on Friday.

“When a park is clean and beautiful, it’s more likely to be maintained that way.”

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For anyone looking to participate in a weekend cleanup, Ruscica encouraged people to check with their local councillor’s office or on community social media pages and sites for listings and COVID-19-related protocols.

Ward 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park Coun. Jennifer McKelvie, who is also chair of the City’s infrastructure and environment committee, said around 1,000 City of Toronto staff are holding a month-long blitz to clean the city, targeting parks and other areas. In 2021, she said they hauled away 244 tonnes of litter.

“During the pandemic, people have really rediscovered our parks and have been spending more time outside. And while the city did increase the number of bins and did increase pickup, of course, that means still this spring we’re going to have a little bit more out there,” McKelvie said.

“It never ceases to amaze me that we see gum, cigarette butts and the one that drives me the craziest is when they put the dog poop in the bag and then throw the bag, why? Why are you doing that?”

When asked what’s being done about garbage and litter on private property or areas not owned or maintained by the City of Toronto, McKelvie said municipal licensing and standards staff can be called to enforce municipal bylaws.

However, when it comes to greenspaces, she reiterated the need for better public participation.

“We need everyone to do their part to head over to those trash bins, put the litter in there, and if they’re full, call 311 so we can organize a pickup of it,” she said.

Meanwhile, Crewe and the other students said the hope people will be more considerate when it comes to the issue of littering.

“I get kind of mad at the people who threw it there because you know people hurt the environment,” he said.

“There’s a garbage like a few metres away and you can just throw it in there, just a few steps and you’re good.”

Today @1GRTeacherinSix Ss walked to @theblackdogpub to clean up the entrance to @TDSB_DavisJPS community. Thx to parent council for the gloves and bags. Big shout out to Mr Grieve who arranged for the garbage bags to be picked up. @TDSB_LN16 @McKelvieWard25 @TeachInThe6ix @tdsb pic.twitter.com/kvgYz9jh8L

— Lesley Davidson (@1GRTeacher) April 22, 2022