It’s in the bag.
The Township of Alnwick-Haldimand and the Municipality of Port Hope are both winners in Northumberland County’s 2024 “Mayors’ Keep the County Clean Challenge.”
Keep the County Clean is an annual week-long litter clean-up initiative, which was hosted as part of Northumberland’s Earth Week celebrations in April. The county invited residents to join their local municipal representatives to clean up litter and illegal dumping in their communities.
The Township of Alnwick-Haldimand came out on top for the “highest proportional representation of volunteers,” with 6.2 per cent of its population participating in this year’s challenge. Alnwick-Haldimand was followed closely by the Town of Cobourg as the first runner-up in this category.
Meanwhile, the Municipality of Port Hope earned the title of “hardest-working volunteers” by collecting an average of 9.4 kilograms of waste per volunteer. The Township of Cramahe was the first runner-up in this category.
“Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Keep the County Clean Challenge and thank you to the many volunteers from across Northumberland who supported their municipality in the challenge and helped to keep our community clean,” said Northumberland County Warden Brian Ostrander in a media release.
“Your hard work and dedication reflect the strong community spirit we have here in Northumberland and exemplifies how we can work together to make a significant positive impact on the environment and our community’s well-being.”
From April 22 to 27, more than 3,124 residents from Northumberland County collected 11,427 kilograms of litter from shared spaces like roadsides, parks, and nature trails throughout the community — marking the highest volunteer turnout for this annual challenge within its 14-year history, the county noted. The Mayors’ Keep the County Clean Challenge grows in terms of impact with each annual instalment.
In recognition of Earth Day, which was on April 22, Northumberland County held a variety of activities throughout the week, in addition to the mayors’ challenge, which was the main event.
All the efforts targeted building awareness around the importance of preserving and safeguarding the county’s natural resources for future generations.
“This friendly competition between our fellow Northumberland communities has the net benefit of working together to beautify Northumberland,” Ostrander earlier told kawarthaNOW.
He said the annual competition promotes both civic pride and making a positive difference for the environment.
For information about Northumberland County’s environmental goals and initiatives, and to track the county’s progress in achieving related key performance metrics, visit Northumberland County’s performance dashboard at northumberland.ca/dashboard.
