The Great Nova Scotia Pick Me Up (GNSPMU)
The Great NS Pick-Me-Up (GNSPMU) program is a community based, volunteer driven litter clean-up program. You register a clean-up for an approved roadway, beach, shoreline, park, trail, or community of your choosing, complete the clean-up, and are in no way obligated to do it again in the same location. You can register for as many or as few clean-ups throughout the province as you’d like. The Great Nova Scotia Pick-Me-Up and the Nova Scotia Adopt-A-Highway program is coordinated by Coastal Action and is supported in part by the municipality.
Groups who register for the Great NS Pick Me Up will be provided with a free kit that includes clear garbage bags, blue recycling bags, a select number of nitrile gloves, and a data submission card. A leaflet outlining disposal procedures is also included in the kit. More information about disposal of litter is below.
Learn more about the program here.
After your cleanup, please submit the data card describing how much and what types of litter were collected. This important step allows us to determine the impact of your efforts, as well as what kinds of litter trouble our communities. Data is shared with Coastal Action and Ocean Wise Shoreline Clean-up Program.
How to participate
If you would like to help clean up litter in your neighbourhood select an area you would like to clean, gather a group of people (friends, family, coworkers, schoolmates, etc.) and register on the Great Nova Scotia Pick-Me-Up website.
Pre-packaged litter kits are available for pickup at Halifax Public Library branches or HRM Customer Service Centres during regular operating hours. To ensure all groups can access supplies at these locations, there is a limit of 2 litter kits per group. If your clean up event requires more supplies than this, please contact wasteless@halifax.ca after registering and an educator will reach out to you.
How to dispose of the litter you collect
Garbage and recycling can be disposed of by dividing it between participants and placing it curbside with your household waste. This material will count towards the limit of 6 garbage bags per single unit household and sorting rules still apply. There is no limit for the amount of recyclables you can put out for collection.
Participants may also deliver collected garbage directly to the Otter Lake Waste Facility. If your event is registered in the Pick-Me-Up program, your tipping fees will be waived. Please email Solid Waste staff at wasteless@halifax.ca two weeks prior to your event to make drop off arrangements.
If neither of these options can be accommodated by your group, please contact 311 two weeks prior to your event to arrange collection by HRM staff.
Litter Clean Up Tips
Safety
Safety is always the most important thing. Don't go anywhere you don't feel comfortable just to collect litter.
- Don't pick up sharps (needles, syringes, lancets, etc.) with your hands, instead, use tongs or a litter grabber. Sharps should be placed in a Safe Sharps Container, which can be picked up and dropped off at your local pharmacy for free. Do not place sharps in the garbage or recycling. If you are not comfortable picking up sharps, please leave them (and report them to the non-emergency police line).
- Proper footwear is also important, closed-toe shoes should be worn.
- Sunscreen, bug spray, and tick spray are always good to have during a clean-up (we suggest watching a video on how to remove a tick prior to the clean-up, just in case).
- Stay hydrated and take breaks when needed.
- If anyone has headphones in while picking up litter, be sure to leave one ear free, especially when picking up litter near roadways.
- As there may not be enough vests for each person attending the clean-up, we suggest that people work in small groups and ensure that at least one person in the group has a safety vest on.
- Working in small groups also helps to reduce the amount of half-filled garbage bags. A small group can collect waste into the same bag, and once it is filled, start a new bag.
Recyclables
Recyclables vs. non-recyclables: “dirty” recyclables cannot always be recycled, as they can contaminate other recyclables.
- When picking up litter, if a recyclable is not relatively clean, it should go in the garbage.
Transporting Waste
If you are transporting waste for disposal after the clean-up, make sure any waste in the back of an open truck or trailer is covered with a tarp or tied down and secured before traveling.
After the clean-up is over
- Share photos (with permission of participants) on Facebook, we love to see your team and their clean-up efforts.
- Please submit the data card describing how much and what types of litter were collected. This important step allows us to determine the impact of your efforts, as well as what kinds of litter trouble our communities. Data is shared with Coastal Action and Ocean Wise Shoreline Clean-up Program.
- Garbage and recycling can be disposed of by dividing it between participants and placing it curbside with your household waste. This material will count towards the limit of 6 garbage bags per single unit household and sorting rules still apply. There is no limit for the amount of recyclables you can put out for collection.
- Participants may also deliver collected garbage directly to the Otter Lake Waste Facility. If your event is registered in the Pick-Me-Up program, your tipping fees will be waived. Please email Solid Waste staff at wasteless@halifax.ca two weeks prior to your event to make drop off arrangements.