Trash begone: Outer Ring Road cleanup still taking volunteers

Trash lining the sides of the highway in St. John's is a sore spot for a lot of people, and government is hoping this weekend's clean up will make a big difference.

On Sunday, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., a large portion of the Outer Road Road will be closed to allow for a community clean-up event.

One of the staff members said he found enough lumber to build a house, and enough furniture to outfit it.- Bernard Davis

"This is a full community outreach opportunity for us as a government, but more importantly for the community. They clearly wanted us to clean up the road. We wanted to clean up the road, we just wanted to find the best way to do it," says Virginia Waters-Pleasantville MHA Bernard Davis.

"That will send a message to everyone that seems to go into the fast food restaurant and throw the bag out the window, maybe think twice before they do that."

As of Friday morning, Davis said there were 213 volunteers registered to take part, along with between 50 and 60 employees and 20 people to handle traffic control.

"It's quite a big undertaking, but we're quite happy with the uptake right now from the community," Davis said, adding that even if you don't register, they won't be turning people away if they show up to lend a hand on Sunday.

"They were asking for it, so we wanted to make sure they had the opportunity to get involved."

'Pretty atrocious'

The City of St. John's has joined in as a partner on the clean up, Davis said, as well as Metrobus, Clean St. John's and Eastern Waste Management Board. Tim Hortons and Subway are also corporate sponsors.

Davis said the public outcry was clear and loud — including a lovely song by Sean Panting, which you can listen to below — and he's hopeful all the work being done might change some minds.

"It's just been a whole community involved to try to fix something that, as Mr. Panting sang about, is pretty atrocious," said Davis.

• Volunteers recruited for Outer Ring Road cleanup

"It's really easy for people to keep their garbage in their car and to secure their load and we're just trying to encourage people to do that — and how better to do that than send the team, or an army, going out on the Outer Ring Road to clean up the mess people have left?"

Davis has been in meetings with Transportation and Works all week preparing, and said some of the stories shared by workers really highlight just how much trash is out there.
 
"One of the staff members said he found enough lumber to build a house, and enough furniture to outfit it. So it's an impressive amount," he said.

"Some of the hills are pretty steep out there so you can't see a lot of the things that fall out of vehicles and it is pretty amazing that someone would drive to the landfill, which is not very hard to get into."

Traffic blockades

For motorists, a number of blockades will be in effect during the cleanup:

• Logy Bay Road
• Torbay Road
• Portugal Cove Road
• Allandale Road
• Team Gushue Highway
• Thorburn Road
• Topsail Road
• Kenmount Road