Earth Day 2016: Enter a team for this year’s Campus Clean Up

Campus Clean Up Day picture

Campus Services & Business Operations (CSBO) is inviting faculty, staff and students to help with the annual 20-Minute Campus Clean Up on Earth Day, Friday, April 22.

Every year York community members come together to tidy key areas on the Keele and Glendon campuses where trash and other unwanted debris have gathered during the winter. Join friends and colleagues and pitch in to give the University a bit of “spit and polish” as we head into the spring season.

There are several designated areas for the Campus Clean Up. Please refer to the PDF of the 2016 Campus Clean Up map and pick a location that is convenient for you or your group. Volunteers should meet at the designated meeting spots at 2pm to pick up gloves and a bag.

At Glendon, community members are asked to meet outside Glendon Hall Manor at 2pm.

At the Keele campus, the meeting spots are:

  • Boyer Woodlot
  • Arboretum and Osgoode Woodlot along the Pond Rd.
  • Sentinel Road at Assiniboine Road, just south of the Assiniboine Apartments, and south of York Parking Lots, along the border with the Village
  • Boynton Woods
  • Danby Woods

Campus Clean Up competition

New this year to the event is the Campus Clean Up Competition. Staff, faculty and students can participate in the Clean Up as a team to compete for prizes in the following categories:

  • Largest team
  • Most interesting item found (take a quick picture of it)
  • Best Campus Clean Up Day ‘selfie’

Register your Campus Clean Up team in advance by e-mailing sustainability@yorku.ca.  You can also enter by e-mailing us your contest photos or tweeting  them to @YUSustain.

Safety tips

Remember the following safety tips:

  • Wear appropriate and protective clothing (boots, gloves etc.)
  • Wear a hat or sunscreen if necessary
  • Pick up litter in your gloved hand and carry the trash bag in the other
  • Do not pick up strange articles that may be dangerous
  • Don’t pick up anything that looks sharp (e.g. broken bottles or needles)
  • Do not take any risks attempting to reach litter in hard-to-get-to places (up a tree, down a steep incline, in rapidly flowing water, on slippery surfaces etc.)

Finally, please remember to stick to the pathways, landscaped areas, and the periphery of the woodlots. Walking through the wooded areas could adversely affect the plants and animals living there.