Garbage Cleanup Day

Two down, one to go

Saturday was the U of T Mountain Biking Team's annual Don Valley Cleanup day. Since its humble beginnings nine years ago, it has grown to encompass corporate sponsors, media coverage and tree plantings. The Task Force to Bring Back the Don was also there with pamphlets and information. I woke up to here David Wright's voice on CBC Radio's Fresh Air show give a little blurb about the morning activities. I am not sure if it resulted in more attendees but it certainly was pleasant to get some recognition for a Don Valley event.

Last year I attended with a specific goal which was to remove an abandoned safe from the valley. It turned out to be a bigger job than I thought but I managed it with a little help from a friend. This past winter I located two more metal boxes and I resolved to extract them too. This time I brought some help with me. We used a wheelbarrow instead of a dolly and this worked out better. Even though the muscle power required to wrestle the loaded wheelbarrow along the trail was more than a dolly requires it was easier to manage the load on the trail's rough spots. We only managed to get one more out (the mosquitoes were swarming!). We decided to leave the last one for next year.

The weather held off for the most part and provided us with a good opportunity to remove another load of junk from the forested slopes. Here are a few pix from the morning's activities.


Norco, Kona, and Pedal Magazine were some of the event sponsors.

A BBQ provided some lunch for the volunteers

Garbage collected. The usual assortment - tires, shopping carts, old bicycles and a computer monitor.

The city provided a garbage truck to cart away the garbage. They had to make several trips.

There was a whole passel of swag to give away. I scored another t-shirt.