Toronto's annual spring cleaning efforts add up to big numbers

City of Toronto Media Relations has issued the following:

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News Release:  June 10, 2015                    

Toronto's annual spring cleaning efforts add up to big numbers

The City of Toronto's interdivisional spring cleanup of roads, boulevards, parks and other public places took place from March 30 to April 24. During the four-week program, staff from City divisions removed more than 8,125 tonnes of litter (compared with 6,327 tonnes in 2014), cleaned up 2,271 square metres of graffiti vandalism and swept 26,224 kilometres of roads.

Items such as abandoned bikes and appliances were taken away in large numbers, as noted here along with several other items of urban clutter:

• 861 dead trees

• 495 tires

• 6,611 old posters

• 289 abandoned bikes

• 908 discarded appliances, and

• 160 abandoned shopping carts.

From April 17 to 19, the broader community contributed to Toronto's spring cleanup through the annual Community Cleanup Day and 20-Minute Makeover events. Almost 165,000 residents pitched in to help at about 1,000 local cleanup events across Toronto.

Participation totals:

• corporate cleanups: 153 businesses and 4,049 of their employees 

• school cleanups: 478 schools and 151,419 students 

• community cleanups: 290 events and 7,298 participants

 

Next year's Clean Toronto Together Community Clean-up program is scheduled to take place from April 22 to 24.

This news release is also available on the City's website: http://bit.ly/1QoeCpF

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.

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Media contact: Rosalynd Rupert, Strategic Communications, 416-338-3379, rrupert@toronto.ca