THUNDER BAY — The forced postponement of the annual Spring Up to Clean Up campaign in Thunder Bay, due to COVID-19, leaves the city heading toward summer looking less than its best.
EcoSuperior has promoted the cleanup initiative in the month of May for more than 20 years.
It's estimated that about 10,000 volunteers in the city and area have participated each spring.
In the absence of the program, councillor Rebecca Johnson wants city administration to look into assigning the task to city workers who were laid off because of the pandemic.
"We've got a messy city," Johnson said.
"We have staff. Could we bring them back and have them do that?" she asked. "It's a job. It has to be done. To me, it's an opportunity to get them back into the workforce, and get the city cleaned up."
Johnson said the city has the authority to redeploy staff under the state of emergency declared by the mayor.
"Whether [employees] will want to do that, that's a whole other story," she added. "Not everybody will be pleased to see that happening, but it's a job."
Johnson said she's been told that the city Roads Division will shortly dispatch its Madvac litter-collecting machines to the downtown cores, and that managers are having internal discussions about other cleanup options.
However, she believes it's essential to clean up litter all over the city, not just in the cores.
EcoSuperior's Melissa Davidson agrees that Thunder Bay does not look particularly good right now.
"All across the city, people are noticing there's a lot of litter on the streets," Davidson said.
She said the debris includes discarded face masks and plastic gloves, items that should be disposed of in a closed garbage container.
Davidson expects some residents will clean up public areas on their own initiative, something she said is out of EcoSuperior's control.
"If people want to take a garbage bag and do it during their evening walk, we really, really emphasize that it's still important to follow the public health recommendations and social distancing, and protect yourself from the garbage too," she said.
Davidson advised wearing gloves and using a trash picker.
"That kind of thing is really important given the state of the world right now," she said.
