The 34th annual Earth Day Clean Up on Saturday, April 26, 2025 was organized by the:
Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights,
P.O. Box 52007, Oakville, ON L6J 7N5
(905) 849-5501, info@oakvillepeacecentre.org, oakvillepeacecentre.org
Final Report and Media Release for the 2025 Earth Day Clean Up
1,477 Volunteers Pitch-in at Record Seventy-Two Nature Sites:
Earth Day Clean Up in Oakville another Big Success!
The annual Earth Day Clean Up continues to grow year after year in Oakville as more and more people and organizations participate in this wildly successful grassroots environmental initiative.
Since 2020, the Theme for this community-wide event has declared that we are “For a clean, green, litter-free Oakville” and in the aftermath of the 2025 Earth Day Clean Up, Oakville is in fact “cleaner, greener and more litter-free!”
When thirty volunteers with the Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights cleaned up greenspaces along the Twelve Mile Creek under the overpass at Bronte Road and the QEW thirty-four years ago in 1992, little did they know that the campaign would expand to a record seventy-two nature sites in 2025.
As more and more individuals and other community groups took responsibility and ownership for staffing a Clean Up site at a park, trail, ravine, woodlot and lakefront, the campaign grew in size, scope and accomplishments.
At each of the 72 nature sites on April 26th, an Earth Day Clean Up Site Coordinator welcomed the volunteers, handed out bags and gloves and directed them as to where to pitch-in. Site Coordinators reported that volunteers were incredibly enthusiastic and meticulous in their pursuit of picking up garbage. In 2025, there was a total of ninety-three people acting as Site Coordinators.
Site Coordinators also reported that Oakville’s beautiful nature sites were much cleaner compared to previous years and that there was a substantial reduction in the amount of garbage collected and fewer large pieces of trash removed by volunteers from Oakville green spaces at the 2025 Clean Up.
April is the clean up month while May is the growing month.
As noted by the organizers, having an Earth Day Clean Up event in late April is especially timely for those of us living in Carolinian Canada as we do in Oakville. The garbage is more visible for picking up before everything in nature starts really sprouting up. Less harm is done to plants just beginning to emerge again in the spring by volunteers stomping around while pitching-in.
Participants expressed appreciation for the event being organized and pledged to join future Clean Ups as well.
The No Littering Campaign is Growing in Oakville
There are many different constituencies contributing to a more litter-free Oakville.
The ninety-two Site Coordinators registered with the Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights, some schools, municipal and provincial government, Parks Ambassadors, Oakville Town Parks and Open Space Department staff, dog walkers and trail walkers disgusted by strewn garbage, civic minded citizens and many others are now all together contributing to raising awareness about littering and are maintaining the cleanliness of Oakville’s green spaces year round.
Congratulations, Oakville!
Town Sponsorship of Event
At the annual Planning Meeting for Site Coordinators held this past April 2nd at Town Hall, Councillor and Regional Councillor Tom Adams thanked the campaign for organizing an important environmental activity which he said the Town itself could not possibly replicate and which saves the Town considerable expense every year.
And in a letter distributed to all Site Coordinators and addressed to all Earth Day Clean Up volunteers, Mayor Rob Burton stated that “the growing number of sites and increased community involvement show a deepening commitment to environmental stewardship in our community.”
Councillors Tom Adams, Nav Nanda and Scott Xie also participated as Site Coordinators. Councillors Dave Gittings and Janet Haslett-Theall visited many of the sites being cleaned up in Ward Three.
Earth Day Clean Up Attracts Major Sponsors
This year’s Clean Up was sponsored primarily by Oakville’s Parks and Open Space Department which provided a grant, bags, disposable gloves and hand sanitizers for all sites. Fifteen highly visible mobile signs publicizing the event also were stationed throughout the community for a full two weeks leading up to the event by Parks.
Halton Region Waste Management paid for a Miller Waste Systems garbage truck and two employees to pick up all of the collected trash.
Clean Up volunteers will be enjoying a free small box of popcorn from Film.ca Cinemas on Speers Road; All volunteers received a coupon attached to a thank you mini-letter from the organizers.
Panago Pizza on Neyagawa Boulevard baked fifty large pies for volunteers to enjoy at seventeen various sites in north Oakville. Thanks are extended to owners Ketan and Payal Patel.
Oakville Starbucks coffeeshops donated a coffee Traveller enjoyed by Site Coordinators and some participants at forty-five various Clean Up sites. Thanks are extended to Skyler Skerry, manager of the Starbucks at Dundas Street East and Prince Michael Drive, for coordinating the distribution of Travellers from all Starbucks shops.
Sponsorships were also received from several local businesses, resident associations, faith groups and community organizations that have been supporting the event for many, many years. There was a total of forty-four sponsors in 2025.
Results of the 2025 Earth Day Clean Up now organized on a Ward by Ward basis:
Miller Waste Systems reported that there were 896 bags of garbage picked up and trucked away on April 26th weighing a total of 2.71 tonnes.
Site Coordinators reported that 1,477 volunteers pitched-in on Saturday morning or afternoon in support of the 34th annual Earth Day Clean Up.
In Ward One, nine sites were cleaned up by a total of 194 volunteers including Bronte Bluffs Park (15), Bronte Creek Provincial Park (31), Bronte Harbour at East Street (8), Bronte Road at the QEW Carpool (25), Burloak Drive and QEW (16), Donovan Bailey Park (3, New in 2025), Lakeshore Woods (50), Valleyridge Park and Trails (35), and Westbrook Park (11, New in 2025).
For Ward Two, there were twelve sites confirmed for the Clean Up including Aldercrest Park (12), Burnet Street Park (20), Coronation Park (160), Glen Oak Creek Trail South (6), Hopedale Park (7), Indian Ridge Trail from Lindsay Drive to Fourth Line (3), Kerr Street at North Service Road (16, one of two afternoon sites from 2-4pm), Kinoak Arena/Brook Valley Park (21), Nottinghill Park (23), Old Abbey Lane Park (40, New in 2025), West River at St. Aidan’s Park and Hogs Back Park (15), and the Woodhaven and Sedgewick Parks site (6). These areas were cleaned up by a total of 329 signed-in volunteers.
Ward Three’s nine sites included Busby Park (42), Clearview Park and area (80), Cornwall Road at Perkins Passage (including Post Park, Maple Valley Park and the Cornwall Sports Park (11), Dunvegan and Ardleigh Parks (12), Gairloch Gardens (6), Lakeside Park and Oakville Museum (39), Linbrook School (56, New in 2025), Maple Grove Park and trails (15), and the Oakville Curling Rink at Wallace Park (15). In total, 288 volunteers pitched-in at Ward Three.
Ward Four hosted the greatest number of sites with fifteen including Arbourview Woods Park (62), Bloomfield Park (5), Castlebrook Park (30), Glen Abbey Trail (7), Glen Oak Creek Trail North meeting at Fourth Line and Upper Middle Road (7), Heritage Way Park (6), Langtry Park (25), Millstone Park (3), Ravine at Third Line and Upper Middle Road (8), Sandpiper Road at Pheasant Lane (12), Sixteen Hollow Park (20), Saw Whet Park (32, New in 2025), Stratus Parkette (11), Westoak Trails Park (9), and Woodgate Woods (20). Here, 257 volunteers lent a hand.
Ward Five had eleven sites with 111 volunteers including Castlefield Park (6, New in 2025), Harman Gate Park (19), Martindale Park (4), Memorial Park Playground (18), Munns Creek and Margot Street Parks (14), Neyagawa Park (7), Oakville Park (0, New in 2025, already done), Oxford Park (2), Pelee Woods Park (11, New in 2025), Shannon Creek at Marlatt (15), and the Sheridan College trails beginning at Treetop Estates (15).
138 volunteers pitched-in at eight sites in Ward Six including Algrove Park (8), Bayshire Woods Park (20), Forest Glade Walkway (10), Glenashton Drive Bridge and ravines (18), Glenashton Park and Iroquois Ridge Community Centre (50), Lyndhurst Park (7, New in 2025), The Brownstones (12), and Valleybrook Park (13, the second of two afternoon sites, 2-4pm).
And in Ward Seven in north Oakville, there were eight sites including Fowley Park (7), George Savage Park (20, estimate), Gladeside Pond (2), Isaac Park (10), Lions Valley Park (21), Palermo Park (15), Preserve Woods Park (70, New in 2025), and William Rose Park (15). A total of 160 volunteers registered to help out.
Of the total 1,477 pitch-in volunteers, there were 216 students who received a practical lesson in environmentalism through their participation. There were 170 high school students, 44 elementary students and two university students pitching-in.
Thirty-three sites were staffed by representatives of various local organizations while the other thirty-nine sites were staffed by fifty-eight individual supporters. See the list of these 33 local organizations and 58 individuals on the website.
Tens of thousands of Oakville residents and students and 224 Site Coordinators including 131 past Site Coordinators have participated in this annual eco event over the past three plus decades making a BIG difference for the local natural environment and the health of the community.
The Five Goals of the Oakville Earth Day Clean Up Campaign
The campaign is succeeding in reaching its five goals of promoting awareness and respect for nature and Oakville’s many waterways, beautifying local neighbourhoods, building community through environmental activism, protecting wildlife, and increasing awareness of the need to protect biodiversity in Oakville.
Stay involved and active for the natural environment
The oakvillepeacecentre.org Clean Up website features lists of sites, Site Coordinators and long-time Event Sponsors, reports, photographs and other info.
This event has been organized since 1992 by the Oakville Community Centre for Peace, Ecology and Human Rights, an incorporated, not-for-profit social movement organization. We are an activist organization, not a charitable organization.
Please contact the organizers to volunteer and/or donate. Become a member of the group! Thank you very much!
The 35th annual Earth Day Clean Up is now scheduled to take place on SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2026 from 9-11 am at most sites.