Municipal Initiatives on Anti-littering

Many communities have their own anti-litter programs and/or hold special community events to help the fight litter. If your community has an interesting or innovative program and would like to share it with others, we'd love to hear from you. Simply contact us and describe your communities anti-litter programs. Be sure to include contact information and a web address if available.

Here are a few examples that demonstrate how some communities get together to clean up their environment.

St. John's Clean and Beautiful, Newfoundland

St. John's Clean and Beautiful is an anti-litter, non-profit organization founded in 1992 that co-ordinates efforts to reduce litter and organize beautification/restoration projects. The goal is to create a spirit of pride among the city's residents, which will, in turn, make the city one of the most attractive cities in North America. The organization has won a number of local and international awards, receiving recognition for its various programs and achievements.

Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia

The Halifax Regional Municipality joins forces with the province-wide anti-litter initiatives Clean Nova Scotia and The Great Nova Scotia's Pick Me Up event. The Municipality runs its annual event in conjunction with the province's events.

Pictou County, Nova Scotia

Pictou Count, co-ordinates an annual anti-litter clean-up event with the province's initiatives, "Go Clean – Get Green" campaign. The event runs in all six municipalities in the county.

City of Montreal, Quebec

An anti-litter campaign for 2005 had the Mayor of Montreal agree to have his photo – defaced with grafitti – appear on the front page of a local newspaper. The campaign also featured well-known celebrities who agreed to have their photos appear defaced with graffitti, on buses and advertising columns spread throughout the city. The campaign also feature radio spots, banners on lamp standards and posters on waste bins.

Town of Ajax, Ontario  

The Town of Ajax, has an anti-litter strategy designed to raise awareness of litter. It's vowed to reduce litter through education, maintenance and enforcement and is collecting statistics to measure its progress. The town's environmental mascot, Duffy the Duffins Duck, has incorporated a "pick up your litter" message into his regular environmental message. He's available to visit elementary schools and help spread the word. During Environmental Awareness Week, the town also promotes the adopt-an-area program where community groups are asked to adopt a park or green space on a regular basis. Additionally, the town also maintains contact with the business community and with land owners to help keep the areas clean.

City of Kingston, Ontario

The City of Kingston holds an annual Pitch-In Day, co-ordinated by the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce and supported partially by the City's operations and parks department. In 2004, the one-day event resulted in the collection of over 11,000 kilograms of waste.

Town of Lincoln, Ontario

Town of Lincoln, which is a Communities in Bloom participant, offers many anti-litter programs to the community. Adopt-A-Road and Adopt-A-Park are open to the groups and organizations that want to take ownership in their communities. Lincoln is a proud supporter and advocate of the "Don't Be a LitterBug campaign", and hosts an annual Spring Clean-up Family Day.

City of London, Ontario

The City of London recently launched a "Think Outside the Can, Recycle More!" campaign aimed at increasing the amount of materials householders collect through the municipal curbside program. The campaign includes a newspaper ad and a radio ad, for each of the following materials: plastic PET bottles; aluminum; newspaper; and mixed paper. The ads offer an interesting perspective on recycling. The PET bottle ads, for example, speak from the position of the bottle itself – informing the householder that the bottle could have been so much more if it had been recycled.

City of Mississauga, Ontario

The City of Mississauga has a Litterbug Mascot and a "Don't be a Litterbug" campaign to help fight litter. It has also made the program available to other interested cities and municipalities. So far, more than 25 communities have jumped onboard, including Brulington, Markham, Oakville, Vaughn, Guelph, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Peterborough and Windsor. The City of Mississauga makes available its Litterbug logo, specific anti-littering strategies (i.e. littering violation enforcement campaign) and student public awareness campaigns.

City of Ottawa, Ontario

The City of Ottawa runs an annual month-long Spring Cleaning Capital Challenge. The challenge involves entire communities, including schools, neighbourhoods, organizations and associations. Prizes are awarded for the best participants. Additionally, there's a "roving" vehicle that randomly hands out prizes during the designated "Capital Clean-Up Day". In 2004, the Challenge involved more than 41,000 participants.

City of Greater Sudbury, Ontario

The Clean Up Greater Sudbury Program provides eduation, management and promotion of clean-up initiatives, to keep Greater Sudbury clean, revitalize community pride and create litter awareness. The program was developed to include individuals, businesses, organizations, schools and City departments. In May 2005, some 350 citizens volunteered two hours for the second annual Community Cleanup Blitz. Close to 17 tonnes (36,680 pounds) of litter from alongside area roads was collected. The Clean Up Greater Sudbury Program also includes various Adoption Programs, such as Adopt-a-Road, Adopt-a-Spot and Adopt-a-Bin.

City of Toronto, Ontario

In 2003, the City of Toronto launched an anti-litter initiative targeting a 50% reduction in litter. The Clean Streets Litter Prevention Program focuses on improved collection, public awareness and enforcement. Improved collection involves a reworking of the city's 145 litter pickers and 55 litter vacuums and adding bins in heavy usage areas and an Adopt a Bin campaign. Public awareness involved a new advertising campaign with the tag line Don't Trash Toronto, and the enforcement saw the addition of nine by-law enforcement officers.

The City of Toronto has placed a greater priority on litter ticketing, including a fine of $130 per offence. For illegal dumping, the city has posed a maximum first-offence fine of $12,500. A litter hotline (39-CLEAN) is expected to help enforce these anti-litter efforts.

In May 2003, the City of Toronto dealt with approximately 14 tonnes (2,800 garbage bags) of street waste daily and spent some $16 million annually on managing street waste, with approximately 90% used to deal with litter on the ground.

The new Clean Streets Litter Prevention Program involves annual litter audits and measurement of collected litter as a way to evaluate the progress toward achieving the 50% reduction goal.

Toronto has also posted a Top 10 Litter Picks. The list includes 10 easy-to-remember ways for Toronto residents to do their part toward reducing litter. For further information on the City of Toronto's anti-litter activities, visit the city's official web site.

Annother program from Toronto is the "20-Minute Makeover", which asks residents and workers to take 20 minutes on a certain day to clean their immediate surroundings from litter and other debris. Other municipalities are now doing their own "20-Minute Makeovers" including Oakville, Richmond Hill, Missississauga, Vaughn, Pickering and Ajax.

Toronto also launched a couple of innovative pilot programs. One calls for a mix of larger and smaller Eucan litter/recycling boxes to capture litter, recyclables and cigarettes. The other pilot is designed to help eliminate cigarette butts from the City streets. It will have the City distribute between 40 and 45 ashtrays (a mix of freestanding ones and ones attached to existing structures like storefronts) within a two-block area.

Toronto Board of Trade, Ontario

The Toronto Board of Trade is seeking to be a champion of a competiitve and vibrant Toronto by launching a new "Clean the City" anti-litter campaign called "Can the Litter". The program focues on education and behaviourial change and involves sustainable programs for business, educators and the community. It involves over 100 volunteers directly and uses campaign messages that have been developed and tested, primarily with the youth audience (15 to 24-year olds). Research has shown that this age group is more prone to litter. The two primary campaign messages are that littering is socially unacceptable behaviour and that those who litter are social outcasts.

City of Vaughan, Ontario

The "Cash For Trash" anti-litter program uses cash and prizes to get people to help keep the City litter free. The program has "prize spotters" on the lookout for people picking up litter. Spotters will randomly select instant winners of cash and merchandise (minimum $25 cash). Winners are also eligible for a draw to win $1,000, $1,500 or $2,500. There are several corporate sponsors involved in the 20-week campaign, which starts in April and runs to September. The campaign is also supported through newspaper and radio advertising. "Cash For Trash" is designed to clean up the City's public spaces and roadways, and to build awareness of the littering problem at bus stops and other public gathering places.

City of Windsor, Ontario  

The City of Windsor created a Clean City Committee to battle litterbugs. This non-profit organization is dedicated to improving Windsor's environment and economy through public education, community beautification, graffiti abatement and litter-awareness programs. The Committee has implemented a litter hotline; organized spring and fall clean ups; provided support to citizens organizing their own litter clean ups; given presentations to schools, community groups, labour and business associations; and promoted litter awareness across Windsor. Meet the Clean City Committee mascot: the Zero-Litterbug.

Several of the initiatives undertaken by this committee deserve further attention. The Job Creation partnership/HRDC is one such example. It's designed to bring together community partners, such as local employers and the unemployed, to help stamp out litter. The City also runs a full-month, spring clean up and a two-week fall campaign. Additionally, citizens and groups are encouraged to adopt an area or neighbourhood and to maintain it throughout the year. Local students are encouraged to form Litter Patrols and to conduct regular litter checks, while the city's Litter Hotline, launched in August 2002, logged more than 250 complaints during its first year of operation. The Clean City Committee has also launched a Pass/Fail card system for local businesses. Additionally, the private sector is being encouraged to support some promotion and sponsorship funding of the various programs. The Clean City Committee is also working within the educational community to promote and encourage anti-littering behaviour and to encourage participation in various clean-up programs.     

Region of Waterloo, Ontario  The Region of Waterloo has added a new twist to its popular anti-littering campaign. The Litter Reduction Task Force, a partnership of numerous public service organizations, was formed in 2003 to address litter issues within the Region. The Task Force is focused primarily on education and promotion. Its tag line The Only Cure for Litter is You can now be seen and heard all over the region in bus shelters, schools and on radio airwaves. Their web site, www.curelitter.ca, provides details on their initiatives.

In June 2006, the Litter Reduction Task Force launched a Cash for Trash campaign, which encourages people to put litter and garbage in the appropriate place. If those individuals are lucky enough to be caught by “spotters”, then they receive an instant prize voucher that can be redeemed for a prize. All of the people awarded instant prize vouchers are also eligible to win one of four grand prizes of $1,000.

The Cash for Life campaign ran from June 1, 2006 to September 29, 2006. The Grand Prizes were awarded on November 29, 2006. In total, there were 193 instant prizes handed out during the campaign.

St. Catharines Clean City Committee, Ontario

The Clean City Committee has been working towards a litter-free St. Catharines for more than a decade. The committee organizes an annual PITCH-IN day, and a Mayor's 20-Minute City Clean Sweep. The organization believes that the elimination of litter is done through education and a sense of ownership to the community. The Committee leads volunteers through the Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up every year, and further works with groups that desire a litter-free St. Catharines.

York Region, Ontario  

York Region has recognized litter as a signficant behavioural problem in society and, in July 2003, commissioned a litter survey. The preliminary results of this survey, along with York Region's path forward in the years ahead, are now available on the York Region web site. The survey included a random sampling of 205 sites (70% - urban and 30% - rural) throughout the region. The amount of litter found was tallied according to "large" and "small". The site offers detailed information on the litter breakdown results, including the most common categories of items found, as well as the top five items found for both the "large" and "small" litter categories.

Key initiatives stemming from the litter audit included a series of four focus groups with residents, the development of a five-year advertising/public awareness campaign (which included the development of the "Keep York Region Clean and Green" slogan), litter prevention signs and an advertising program for regional buses, bus shelters and litter receptacles.  

Winnipeg, Manitoba  Take Pride Winnipeg! is a non-profit organization established in 1991 to develop an ongoing city-wide clean up and beautification program for the city of Winnipeg. The organization uses education, mentorship, public awareness, partnerships, cleanup programs, graffiti control and strong examples to inspire community pride, raise public awareness and promote citizen responsibility in making the City of Winnipeg clean and beautiful.

City of Regina, Saskatchewan

The City of Regina will also conduct a litter audit in 2005. The city currently spends more than $400,00 a year on littering (from a combination of street cleaning initiatives and the maintenance of City waste receptacles). The City also plans on conducting a public litter survey to gain resident feedback.

City of Calgary, Alberta

The City of Calgary has been organizaing an annual clean up for quite a few years now. It recently held its 38th Annual Pathway and River Clean Up, which had volunteers remove litter from the banks of the river. The three-hour clean up (which starts with a pancake breakfast for participants) resulted in the colletion of almost 9,000 kilograms of trash in 2004.

City of Edmonton, Alberta Capital City Clean Up is a litter reduction and prevention program developed by the City of Edmonton to help keep the city clean, safe and attractive over the summer months. The program has four main components: an extensive public education program to change the behaviour that leads to littering; community involvement that encourages residents and businesses to Adopt-A-Block in their neighbourhood or business area; enhanced civic services to ensure public areas and major arterial roadways are kept litter-free, and support from the City’s Bylaw and Compliance branch where needed. The program addresses emerging concerns by engaging a wide-range of business and community stakeholders, committees assigned to specific areas of the program, and on-going evaluation activities to ensure the program continues to be effective.

City of Red Deer, Alberta  

The City of Red Deer recently brought back its "Green Deer Campaign" as a way to help fight litter. The program pulls together community associations, businesses, schools, local groups and residents. The City has also added a Community Spirit and School Challenge to the campaign. Both involve prizes for the winners.

Delta, British Columbia  The municipality of Delta has expanded on the increasingly popular "Adopt a Bin" program by offering an "Adopt a Street" program. Volunteers are asked to pick up litter from city streets at least four times a year. Participants have the option of choosing an entire street or a part of a street as their responsibility. The municipality recognizes their efforts with a sign.

City of Prince George, British Columbia  

Prince George has a Civic Pride Program that offers residents opportunities to get involved and make a difference in keeping the area litter-free. The city's Adopt-a-Block program enables individuals, community organizations and local businesses to commit to picking up litter along a section of a street or neighbourhood. Signs are erected to recognize the efforts of the volunteers who clean up the city. The city also offers an Adopt-a-Litter Container, which encourages a group of people to get together and take the matter of litter into their own hands by sponsoring a litter container for their particular area or community. The donation amount is $1,200 and covers the cost of the container purchase, site preparation, installation, maintenance and donor recognition. These anti-litter programs work in concert with an annual Spring Clean Up Day, which involves federal and local governments, businesses, schools and homeowners all working together to create a cleaner community.

Prince George held a one-day Spring Clean Up event that ran in conjunction with the Communities in Bloom competition. The event attracted over 40 local community groups, involved over 1,000 residents and resulted in the collection of over 2,000 bags of litter.

City of Surrey, British Columbia

As of July 4, 2005, the Surrey initiated a new education and enforcement campaign designed to reduce litter. As part of the program, entitled "Getting Tough on Trash", the City will hand out notices to hosueholds and businesses which are found to have accumulations of litter on their property or adjacent boulevards. The notices provide property owners with a 48-hour period to clean up the mess or face a minimum fine of $75, as well as the costs associated with cleaning up the mess. The City's mayor attributes one of the main sources of street-side waste to litter originating from private properties – both residences and businesses. The new campaign is being delivered through a combiantion of increased by-law enforcement efforts and anti-litter advertisements.

Adopt a Highway  

The Adopt-a-Highway program is one of the more popular organized anti-litter activities being practiced across Canada. The program tends to fall under provincial jurisdiction and asks volunteer groups or individuals to "adopt" a certain section of the highway and to become responsible for keeping that section clean. It is a program designed for those environmentally conscious citizens who wish to make a personal contribution to a cleaner environment. In addition to the cleaner environment, the volunteer(s) are recognized by a sign erected to acknowledge their efforts. Most Adopt-a-Highway programs are run by the provincial Departments of Transportation but cities and towns also get involved on a local scale.