Wednesday, March 23, 2016 (Halifax, NS) – Five weeks of intense spring cleaning on streets, sidewalks and other municipal property is set to begin in early April across the Halifax region. The efforts are part of the annual cleanup following the winter season.
Parks staff will be out picking up litter, removing downed branches and other winter debris, and emptying garbage cans in municipal parks, playgrounds, sports fields, trails and other open spaces.
Road Operations staff will sweep and wash the sidewalks in downtown Halifax and Dartmouth, and the municipality’s eight vacuum street sweepers and two tandem broom trucks will be out in full force cleaning the roadways. In areas where snow clearing was done by contractors, street and sidewalk cleaning will be completed by the same contractor, as needed.
Municipal crews will focus first on cleaning the core areas of Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford, and then expand outward from there. In the core areas alone there are approximately 1,500 kilometres of road and 3,000 kilometres of curb to clean.
Clearing bike lanes remains a priority and it is expected that all of these will be addressed as the streets are cleaned.
Parking restrictions to facilitate street cleaning in Peninsula Halifax will go into effect on Monday, April 11. Residents are advised to find off-street parking on the days their neighbourhood is being serviced; please refer to on-street signage to determine when parking restrictions are in effect. Vehicles may be ticketed if they impede street cleaning operations.
Residents are encouraged to help out this spring by organizing a neighbourhood cleanup or simply picking up litter and debris in and around their own property. Litter or garbage on private property is the responsibility of the property owner and should be properly sorted and prepared for curbside collection. The schedule for collection of garbage, organics and recyclables is available online at http://www.halifax.ca/recycle/garbage.php.
The municipality provides year-round collection of one large bulky item, such as a piece of furniture, every garbage collection day. The Otter Lake Waste Processing & Disposal Facility also accepts excess bags of garbage from residents, for a fee.
Leaf and yard waste can be placed in the green bin, but no grass clippings. Any excess leaf and yard waste can be placed in large paper bags — not plastic — for curbside organics collection. Material must be placed curbside no later than 7 a.m. on collection day to ensure pickup.
Municipal and contracted crews will also be out in the coming weeks repairing damage caused by snow-clearing equipment this past winter. If residents know of turf or curb damage on municipal property, or if your own property sustained damage, please call 311 to file an incident report or fill out an online service form.
For more information on the annual spring cleanup, please visit http://www.halifax.ca/snow/springcleanup.php.
Source: Release