Hey Cochrane, here's a chance to flaunt our tremendous Community Pride by doing a little spring cleaning.

The annual community-wide cleanup is partnering up this year to make Saturday, May 12 a day to take care of a little business as we enter the green season.

The clean-up, off-leash parks cleanup and free compost are all being staged near the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a drop-in basis.

Cash Prizes for Community Cleanup

It's the fourth year of this volunteer effort to rally the community to spend a few hours to clean up some of the remaining grim and garbage that has floated through our wind-blown town, including parks and pathways, during the winter months. It's a simple equation; the more hands, the cleaner the town.

Interest has waned the last couple of years and organizer Marni Fedeyko hopes to reignite community buy-in with a friendly competition with cash prizes of $300, $200 and $100 for the top three garbage gathers. The structure has also been simplified to have one central staging instead of community stations.

"The idea is to go there and grab supplies and then go wherever in town to clean up. So you can do the pathways if you want, or anywhere else in the community. It would be great to see sports teams, community groups and workplace teams out and about wearing jerseys or identifying themselves as a unified group in some way."

"All it takes us a few hands and a short period of time; you don't have to be there all day."

Participants will be meeting in the southwest part of the curling centre parking lot (back of centre) and there will be provided bags and, if necessary, gloves. You then head out wherever you wish to collect trash. Once done, return with your garbage. It will be weighed and if your team is among the top three collectors you will receive a cash prize. Materials must be bag-able and, please, no household items.

Also joining the effort is the Off-Leash Advocacy Group who are staging what is fun-lovingly been called "Poopapalooza," which was held at a separate time last year.

Educational material will also be available onsite on how you can better divert your waste.

30 kg of Free Compost

The town's first compost giveaway last May attracted a steady stream of residents. It goes this Saturday.

Town residents have the opportunity to get even more free compost than during the first giveaway last May. Now, families can receive up to 30 kg of free compost to spread in their gardens and for their landscaping.

The giveaway event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the town's lagoon site just past the SLSFSC at 700 Griffin Road. Residents must supply their own containers and be prepared to shovel.

Fabrizio Bertolo, the town's Waste and Recycling manager, says they received a good response last year, despite the fact that it was a brand new program, and expect even more this year as word spreads.

"I'm sure they'll be more people than last year because some people weren't aware of the event and they really want to take advantage of the compost."

"They've been asking us for months about when we're holding the first compost event. They're really excited about it."

The compost is provided by the town's organics collection contractor as part of the town's organics program. Material collected in green carts is taken to an industrial facility where it takes about one year to turn into compost.

Last year, the town held two compost giveaway events.