Everyone can do their part during Environment Week

The City of Ottawa encourages residents to participate in Canadian Environment Week, which takes place this year from June 1 to 7, by taking steps to make more environmentally-friendly decisions in their daily lives. The City of Ottawa has a number of programs to help make those decisions easier. ** Clean Air Day – June 3 ** May was Bike to Work Month, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ride to work in June. With complete streets, dedicated bike lanes, rack and roll on OC Transpo buses and more bike racks than ever, it’s getting easier all the time to leave the car at home and find cleaner ways to commute. ** Giveaway Weekend ** This weekend, on June 6 and 7, residents are encouraged to take their unwanted items and leave them at the end of the driveway for interested neighbours to come by and take away. This popular program keeps useful items out of Ottawa’s landfill. And who knows what treasures you may find in your own neighbourhood! ** Take it back ** Household hazardous waste, like strong cleaners, needles and pool chemicals do not belong on the curb. They pose a risk to the environment and our collection workers.

You can safely dispose of many kinds of household hazardous waste by returning them to participating local retailers during regular business hours. Or, you can take them to one of the City’s one-day Household Hazardous Waste depots. For a list of retailers who accept returns of household hazardous waste, or to see when a Household Hazardous Waste depot will happen near you, please visit ottawa.ca .

Use the Waste Explorer on ottawa.ca anytime to find out how to get rid of items that are not allowed to be placed curbside for garbage collection. ** ** ** Green Acres ** The City, in partnership with local conservation authorities, is looking for rural land owners to participate in the Green Acres reforestation program. Since 2011, the City has planted an average of 110,714 trees annually, which includes replacing trees lost to Emerald Ash Borer in urban and suburban neighbourhoods.

For more information on how to participate in the Green Acres program visit ottawa.ca.