Spring Cleaning in St John’s

During spring and continuing into fall City of St. John's staff and contracted staff clean litter from roadsides, in open spaces and parks and other City-owned property.
 
Parks & Open Spaces staff
In the early spring when shoveling snow is no longer required but it’s too early to tend to flower gardens and get parks and playgrounds ready for summer, our Parks & Open Spaces staff get busy cleaning litter from around City property and along roadways in highly visible and well-travelled areas.
 
You may have seen crews recently in areas including Downtown, Columbus Drive, Topsail Road and around Quidi Vidi Lake. In the coming weeks more areas of St. John's will be cleaned by our Parks staff.   
 
Downtown litter crew
As soon as the snow melts our downtown litter crews are put in place. Litter crews use push brooms, shovels and buckets on wheels to collect litter.
 
One crew starts their day at 6 a.m. cleaning litter from the downtown core of Duckworth Street, Water Street and Harbour Drive.
 
A second crew starts at 9 a.m. cleaning some of the main streets leading from downtown up to and including Military and Harvey Roads and a section of Lemarchant Road. They also clean the lower section of Freshwater Road and head to the downtown core once the first crew is finished for the day.
 
Summer litter crew
Again this year we are hiring a litter crew who will begin working in May picking up litter around town. Throughout the spring and summer months they clean along main thoroughfares and find everything from coffee cups, chip bags to old bicycles, refrigerators and couches.
 
Garbage containers
Cut down on litter by making sure to put your waste in a garbage or recycling container. We have waste containers around town including more than 600 in parks and playgrounds, some near bus stops and more than 70 waste containers downtown alone.
 
A reminder for your household garbage, make sure the lid of your garbage cart can completely close before you put it at the curb. For those without carts, from April to November garbage bags at the curb must be completely covered with a net or blanket, or in a can or container with a cover.