Community Clean Up
Let’s clean up our community – together! Join the fun and help keep our city looking its best! Grab your friends, family, or coworkers and pitch in to clean up litter from boulevards, parks, trails, walkways, and cemeteries. You can join one of our scheduled clean-up events or help on any day that suits you.
Anytime Community Clean Up Program
Want to help on your own schedule? You can! Our Anytime Community Clean-Up option lets you decide when and where to clean.
How it works
- Register online at least 3 days before your clean-up and review the safety tips
- Groups (2+ people): Fill out the Group Waiver Form and email it to the program coordinator
- Pick up supplies (bags, vests, pickers) from the MacBain Centre—just give us 3 business days’ notice (contact the Program Coordinator)
- Clean any city-owned public space. Ask us if you're unsure
- Tell us where you left the garbage bags so we can collect them later (contact the Program Coordinator)
- Return supplies to the MacBain Centre when you’re done
Note: Clean-ups are weather-dependent and may be cancelled in bad conditions. Locations are limited to public property that is governed by the City of Niagara Falls. If you are unsure of ownership of a certain area, please ask us before you start.
2025 Fall Community Clean Up event
Please help out by picking up litter in our community. We’ll give you everything you need—gloves, garbage bags, and litter pickers (while supplies last). You’ll also get safety tips and a vest if you’re cleaning along the streets.
Date: Saturday, October 18, 2025
Time: 10 am to 1 pm
Location: MacBain Community Centre, 7150 Montrose Road
Weather: Clean-up events happen in rain or shine, but will be cancelled in unsafe weather conditions
How to join
- Register online before the event, or just show up to register
- Arrive starting at 10 am to sign in and pick up supplies
- Sign the waiver. All registered volunteers need to sign a waiver. Youths under 17 need a signed youth permission form. Kids 13 and under must bring a guardian
- Review the safety tips
Download forms in advance
Forms are available when you arrive to sign in, or you can complete them in advance.
After the clean-up
- Leave full garbage bags at park/trail entrances, parking lot entrances, or street corners. City staff will collect them
- Return all borrowed items (except gloves—you keep those!) before 7 pm
- If you're late, drop off items at the Customer Service Desk inside the MacBain Centre
Youth and student volunteers
- Ages 13 and under: Must have a guardian with them at all times and cannot clean along roadways (only parks, trails or cemeteries). Need a signed Youth Permission Form
- Ages 14 to 16: Need a signed Youth Permission Form
- Supervising youth groups: The clean-up group must provide at least one adult supervisor (18 years or older) for each five workers who are 14 to 17 in age
Students can earn community service hours!
- Bring your school’s Volunteer worksheet to be signed at the event, or email us after the event to request confirmation
Clean up safety tips
Stay safe, alert and avoid exertion while cleaning. Work in pairs or groups if possible—it’s safer and more fun.
Before you go
- Dress for the weather. Wear a hat, sunscreen, and bring water if it's hot
- Wear light coloured clothing that covers arms and legs
- Wear protective footwear
- Don't wear loose jewelry
- Volunteers cleaning near streets must wear a safety vest or bright-colored clothing
Supplies to bring
- Gloves and garbage bags (provided at scheduled events)
- Your first-aid kit in case of minor cuts or scrapes
- Carry a cell phone in case of emergency
- Bring hand sanitizer or wipes to clean your hands after the clean-up
What NOT to do
- Walk or pick up litter on the road, shoulder or in the median
- Work on bridges, overpasses, steep ground, or tunnels
- Enter private property
- Use or possess illegal drugs or alcoholic beverages before or during the clean-up
- Touch or pick up hazardous items or anything that cannot be identified. If you find any of these items, flag it for pick up by City staff
- Step or jump on trash bags
- Go near construction areas and maintenance equipment
- Approach water hazards like rivers, creeks and ponds
- Touch hazardous plants (i.e. poison ivy) and stinging insects
- Work in inclement weather
- Work at night – daytime hours only
Traffic and parking safety
- Car pool to reduce the number of vehicles at the site. Exit your car on the side adjacent to the ditch or sidewalk (not on the traffic side)
- Don’t park along major roads
- Park parallel to the road and as far off the travelled portion as possible
- Park vehicles on the same side of the roadway as the volunteers are working
- Always stay aware of oncoming traffic
- Walk facing traffic when cleaning along boulevards or sidewalks and clean up one side of the roadway at a time
Walker Industries Complimentary Waste Disposal Program
Walker Industries is a company dedicated to the environment, community and safety of their employees and they want to do their part and help keep the communities in which we live and operate clean and safe. They hope to do this by making every day a “day of action on litter” by offering free disposal for any community clean up initiative year round across Niagara Region. Dependent on any existing government restrictions, the Thorold landfill will provide free disposal of litter collected by community groups who pre-register their 2024 community cleanup initiatives. Please review Walker Industries' guidelines for accessing free disposal for 2023. To register for free community clean-up disposal please email Walker Industries (include your group name, cleanup location (i.e. municipality), and expected clean-up date).
City Nature Challenge 2025 - April 25 to 28
Thank you to all who participated in this year's global City Nature Challenge. Residents took part in an intense four-day bioblitz surveying, joining citizens from across the world to help catalogue native plants and animals found in their cities in the annual event. The 2025 challenge took place between April 25 to 28 across hundreds of countries. The challenge was an opportunity for residents to enjoy nature while making important discoveries that will help scientists better understand and protect nature. Participants recorded and submitted as many species as possible within the city boundaries. Results from the event will be released soon. You can visit City Nature Challenge online to learn more.
Adopt A Street/Trail/Park/Walkway
You can help keep your environment clean and beautiful! The Adopt A Street Program is a campaign to beautify and take pride in the City of Niagara Falls. Volunteer groups are encouraged to adopt a street, trail, park or walkway, and take responsibility for litter pick-up, weed pulling, etc. along the selected area. Complete the application form online.
For updated documents including applications, waivers, checklists and safety guidelines, please contact Jeff Guarasci, Community Development Coordinator. Phone: 905-356-7521 ext 3341.
Environment Award
Congratulations to our most recent winners, Debbie Cank-Thatcher & Leslie Laan. The award is presented to a citizen(s), groups, businesses, industry or organizations residing or working in the City of Niagara Falls who have made a significant contribution toward the protection or enhancement of the City's environment.
Over the past 25 years, the City of Niagara Falls Environmental Action Committee has recognized many groups and individuals who demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the improvement and preservation of the environment. View the Past winners of the Environment Award for a full list of recipients of the award.
Nominations will be accepted year round. A complete, one page submission will be accepted, including a bio and accomplishments of the nominee and the nominator's and nominee full contact information.
Note: Only winning submissions will be contacted prior to the annual Volunteer Recognition Evening, which takes places annually at the beginning of November. Recipients will be given complimentary tickets to the Volunteer Recognition Ceremony.
