Rotary Club Ottawa South members pitched in again this year to Clean up the Capital around the Ottawa Rotary home.
Cleaning up the Capital is a popular City of Ottawa program that encourages citizens to pitch in and help with spring cleaning for parks and roadways. For many years, members of the Rotary Club Ottawa South (RCOS) have collected trash along Bank Street and Rotary Way. It is a fun, communal event that improves the neighbourhood environment, and provides us with some quality time outdoors. Our members enjoy the fresh air, camaraderie and cleaning up the environment, we also take joy in being a good neighbour to the Ottawa Rotary Home, located at 823 Rotary Way.
The intersection sees a lot of traffic, and this year Bank Street is also under reconstruction. So our garbage grasping group worked its way further down Rotary Way this year. The effects (health and economic) of COVID linger, but the threat seems distant, as evidenced by the dramatic drop in discarded disposable masks. (Even in 2025, some people think that disposable means you can toss it on the ground.) The environmental health, as measured by the trash picked up in springtime along Rotary Way and Bank Street, is improving. There was still a disappointing number of water bottles, pop cans and fast food containers, but there was noticeably less garbage overall. We've seen the number of cigarette butts decline dramatically; though, we can't assume that everyone has kicked the habit as we picked up many vape containers.
Many thanks to Julie Cugajl, Sean Gerber, Kateri Clark, Vik Chawla, Sherri Kelly, Rosemary Parker, Jeff Sirrs, Joackim Tamale, and Scott Vetter. Special thanks to Sherri for bringing treats!