Get involved today!
Make a difference. Help the planet locally.
Please note that the community’s health and safety is of utmost importance to us, please follow Halton COVID-19 safety guidelines to ensure your personal safety and those around you prior to choosing to participate in any eco-activities or tips shared by BurlingtonGreen.
Burlington’s Clean Up Green Up continues until the end of October! Sign up to participate in this popular and rewarding city-wide opportunity to safely collect litter from our communities, and you can also register to participate in various green up activities that you can do at home to help grow the local tree canopy and strengthen local biodiversity too!
Since BurlingtonGreen began hosting this inclusive event in 2011, a whopping 109,000+ participants have joined these collective efforts, resulting in cleaner and greener parks, streams, schoolyards and neighbourhoods.
Who can participate? Everyone!
Great for families, friends, social bubbles and small community groups!
Spend quality time with your loved ones taking local eco-action with this safe outdoor activity. A great way to connect with nature while getting some exercise too.
Great for businesses!
A rewarding opportunity to gather your team or coworkers for a safe outdoor team-building activity that helps both the environment and the community. Are you currently working remotely? No problem! You can still be physically apart AND work collectively to help clean up beautiful Burlington – have team members complete their own clean-ups at home on behalf of your workplace, team or business. Gather photos from everyone’s clean up and see just how BIG your impact can be!
Great for the classroom + volunteer hours for participating high-school students!
Whether you are in a classroom or online learning, Community Clean Up provides a valuable opportunity for teachers and students to safely get outside, get some exercise and help the local environment too. Organize a clean-up with your class, or encourage parents to organize a family clean-up at home. Make it an exciting class project and encourage students to take photos of the litter they collect. High-school students can earn volunteer hours and we have a great complement of resources to support related curriculum.
How It Works:
1. Determine a publicly accessible, safe location in Burlington that your family, friends, coworkers, community group or classroom would like to clean up.
Know of any ‘litter hotspot’ locations in Burlington where there is lots of litter?
Contact us to let us know of locations in Burlington where you often see litter, OR if you carried out a clean up of an area and there remains more litter to be collected, let us know that too. (Please note that areas you clean up must be deemed publicly accessible, without safety hazards, and safe to access and carry out your litter collection activities)
2. Review the 2021 Clean Up Green Up Tip Sheet (PDF) for important safety and waste collection information and our Volunteer Activity Waiver Informed Consent to Participate form. Be sure you and your group members adhere to the most up-to-date Halton COVID-19 safety guidelines.
3. Register your participation at the blue button below.
We encourage you to use your own clean-up supplies, however, you can request free clean-up supplies for your group. Supplies are available for pick-up at our supply depots (while quantities last).
- NUVO Network: available at the BG table at the front entrance anytime during hours of operation.
- Burlington Centre: available at Guest Services anytime during hours of operation
Perks of registering:
- We have FREE clean up supplies including disposable gloves, garbage and recycling bags available for pick up, by request, while quantities last.
- Enter to win! When you register your Clean Up your group will be entered into a draw for a chance to win 1 of 4 $50 gift card to the Burlington Centre!
- We’ve got extra prizes for groups that share their photos with us and send us the quantity of litter they collect- so take photos of your Clean Up and send us the quantity of litter you collect. Tag us on social media or e-mail them to us for EXTRA chances to win!
(Note: Submission of photos provides permission to BurlingtonGreen to use your photos in print, or in digital materials including social media platforms with permission to edit, alter, copy, or distribute the photos for media advertising and marketing)
4. Share your clean up plans with your group participants ensuring all are informed of the Clean Up Green Up Tips and the Volunteer Activity Waiver Informed Consent to Participate form and adhere to the most up-to-date Halton COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Optional: download this handy poster to record your group’s clean up details to share the event with your group.
5. Have a fun and safe Clean Up, count the number of full bags of litter you collected, take a photo of your (physically distanced) group with your collected litter and tag us on social media or send us an email!
Let us know about any larger waste items or “hot spots” with lots of litter that you encountered during your clean up, so we can flag it for further attention.
6. Bring ALL collected waste home with you and dispose of it through your residential curbside collection. Please do not leave collected waste at any parks, trails, businesses or green spaces, as city waste collection services are limited during the pandemic. If you find large items unable to be transported home with you, please let us know where they are located when you report back with your collected waste amounts.
That’s it! By participating, you are contributing to a city-wide effort for a cleaner, beautiful Burlington.
Scroll further below to learn about the Green Up opportunity!
THE GREEN UP & TREE LOVING CARE (TLC)
Due to COVID-19, BurlingtonGreen together with the City of Burlington are not able to bring the community together for our annual tree planting ‘Green Up’ event this year. But, there are still lots of ways that YOU can Green Up Burlington and care for your trees-TLC (tree-loving care)!
For the following Green Up activity ideas, please ensure those that participate follow the most up-to-date Halton COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Sign up to share your participation for some great perks! ( see further below)
Ways that you can GREEN UP at home:
- Plant a native shrub, tree or pollinator perennial on your property.
- Request a packet of FREE native plant seeds to support your Green Up activities at home, while quantities last.
- Check out this guide to sourcing native plants locally (PDF).
- You can find out more about native trees and which ones are best for Burlington using the Ontario Tree Atlas.
- Consult the Tree Planting Guide to set your new tree up for success.
2. Remove invasive plant species from your property.
- Learn more about Halton Invasive Species and Biodiversity from Conservation Halton.
- Find out how you can tackle invasive species at home from the Ontario Invasive Plant Council.
- Review this “Grow-Instead-Guide” to gardening with native plant species in Southern Ontario.
- Learn how to remove the invasive plant garlic mustard with our useful video tutorial.
3. Give some Tree Loving Care (TLC) to your trees
- Maintaining and caring for them is important for their overall health and longevity.
- Consult the Tree Planting Guide for useful tips on caring for your trees.
- Check out these tips for winter tree care and summer tree care.
4. Learn about the importance of trees, pollinators, native species and biodiversity
- Send along a message about why protecting and restoring local nature matters to you.
- This is also a great topic for teachers to bring into the classroom!
Here are a few helpful resources to get you started:
- Learn about native species, pollinators and biodiversity with Go Wild! and Carolinian Canada.
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Watch the Burlington Biodiverse webinar on Backyard Gardening for Pollinators.
Perks of Registering:
- We have a limited supply of FREE NATIVE PLANT SEEDS available when you register for Green Up, while quantities last.
- When you register your Green Up participation, you will be entered into a draw for a chance to win a $50 gift card to the Burlington Centre. We are giving away 2 gift cards for those that register between now and October 31st.
- We’ve got extra prizes for those that share their photos with us – so take photos of your Green Up and tag us on social media or e-mail them to us for EXTRA chances to win! (Note: Submission of photos provides permission to BurlingtonGreen to use your photos in print, or in digital materials including social media platforms with permission to edit, alter, copy, or distribute the photos for media advertising and marketing)
We would love to see photos of you and making your home and community greener!
Tag us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or send us an e-mail!
Do you provide clean-up supplies?
Yes! You are encouraged to use your own supplies, though we do have a limited supply of disposable gloves, garbage and recycling bags that will be made available for pick up in accordance with the most up-to-date Halton COVID-19 restrictions. If you require supplies, please be sure to indicate this during registration. Supplies will be available while quantities last.
Where and when can I pick-up supplies?
Supplies are available for pick-up at our supply depots. Please be sure to check their hours of operation and visit them when they are open.
Burlington Centre: Pick-up supplies at Guest Services (located near the Shoppers Drug Mart, only the Guelph Line entrance by Indigo is currently open).
Nuvo Network: Pick-up supplies at the Concierge Desk at the front entrance (visitor parking is available at the side of the building).
I am a student, can this count toward my volunteer community service hours?
Yes! Please let us know at the time of registration that you are a student and will be claiming volunteer hours. We will require an e-mail detailing your results, photos of your clean up and confirmation by a parent/guardian. Note that a typical clean up is approximately 1-3 hours.
Can I still clean up during COVID-19?
Be sure to review Halton COVID-19 safety guidelines before participating in a clean up, and adhere to the maximum outdoor gathering limits outlined by the region.
Some COVID-19 safety clean up tips:
- Stay 6 feet apart from others
- Wear a mask
- Wear gloves
- Wash your hands after the clean up
Also be sure to review our 2021 Clean Up Green Up Tip Sheet (PDF) for important safety and waste collection information.
Where do we leave our collected waste?
Please bring ALL collected waste home with you and dispose of it through your residential curbside collection or regular waste provider. Please do not leave collected waste at any parks, trails, businesses or green spaces, as city waste collection is not available at these locations at this time.
What if I arrive and my clean up site is already clean?
We do our best to oversee registrations to ensure that groups are not cleaning up the same site at the same time. However, sometimes groups plan their own clean up without registering or informing us about their plans. You may wish to visit your chosen site a day or two before your clean up to assess if it requires cleaning, as well as seeing if nearby areas and parks may also be potential clean up spots.
Have any further questions? Reach out to us here!
Showcase your support for a cleaner, greener Burlington!
Contact us today for sponsorship inquiries for this and our many other impactful opportunities.
We are grateful to the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the following community partners for supporting these impactful opportunities:
LEAD SPONSOR
TREE SUPPORTERS
LEAF SUPPORTERS
