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By Shane Clausing

Highway cleanup

Volunteers ready for annual Alberta highway cleanup Saturday

Sep 16, 2020 | 5:23 PM

The Province of Alberta’s annual highway cleanup is getting underway on Saturday, September 19.

The annual event normally takes place in the spring, but because of COVID-19 precautions, it was moved to September to ensure a safe environment for everyone involved.

In 2019, over 18,000 volunteers from various organizations teamed up to clean the ditches along Alberta’s roads. Each organization involved can earn $100 for every kilometre or road cleaned.

“There are Scouts, Girl Guides, school groups and church organizations and other not for profit organizations that take part in this each year. It’s kind of an important fundraiser for all of these groups each year,” explained Wayne Wood with Alberta Transportation.

The cleanup gets underway at 7:00 a.m. Saturday. Volunteers across the province will be picking up garbage until 5:00 p.m. According to Wood, volunteers picked up more than 56,000 bags of garbage, while cleaning up more than 13,700 kilometres of road during the 2019 cleanup.

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One of the highways that will be getting cleaned is Highway 43. Wood says that drivers heading out on Highway 43 this Saturday should drive safely and be on the lookout for volunteers.

“That’s where we are asking folks to keep their eyes open. Be on the lookout this weekend, they are all in very bright orange vests, and there may be some speed controls in place as you go by the groups and organizations, but certainly, Highway 43 is going to be one of the focal points as well.”

“There’s a lot of children involved and it’s an exciting day for everybody, so we just want motorists to be aware they’re out there and slow down when they’re out there.”

Most of the roads that will be getting a cleanup are the four-lane highways.

Last year as a result of the cleanup, the Alberta government distributed $1.28 million to 740 different volunteer organizations.