If you see an orange bag on the side of the road this Saturday, slow down – there’s a volunteer nearby.
Barrhead area youth and adults will be participating in the annual Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors Highway Clean-up on Saturday (May 4) from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each year volunteers from various non-profit groups across Alberta brave the ditches along our highways to collect the garbage and debris.
You can recognize these time-generous people and where they are working by the filled orange garbage bags planted on the shoulders of our roads. The volunteers will be outfitted in safety vests and gloves and will be seen in groups.
Signs are distributed to the groups to post on the highways to notify drivers to slow down.
Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors encourages non-profit groups to get involved and participate because this is a fund-raising opportunity. Groups are rewarded for their work by payment of $100 per kilometre cleaned.
Non-profit workers must be a minimum of 9 years old or older and accompanied by 1 supervising adult per group. Groups can include 2 to 5 participants, depending on their age.
Safety of the volunteers is of the utmost importance and guidelines are in place to protect everyone involved. Highway outer ditches are the main area of focus on divided highways, where meridians are not part of the assignments.
All volunteers must participate in safety training before clean-up day to be able to complete the work.
It’s our responsibility to slow down where these crews are working on Saturday.
This initiative has several benefits. Removal of garbage keeps our roadways safe. Garbage blown around on roadways by the wind can cause distractions and accidents.
Wildlife is protected from the danger that garbage presents. Animals are wounded by sharp objects. They can eat materials that are unsafe, poisonous or toxic.
Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors also has a level-up Adopt-A-Highway clean-up program where groups can adopt a section of highway, 3 to 5 kilometres, for up to 3 years by agreeing to commit to clean up the garbage in that section of road at least once a year.
Recommendations, for safety’s sake, state that at least three people should be in each group when completing the work.
