Team Up to Clean Up
For additional information
Email cleanandgreen@hamilton.ca
Organize a Clean Up Event in Your Community
Helping keep public spaces in your neighbourhood clean and safe for everyone. The program provides volunteers with gloves, recycling and garbage bags.
- Review the program information
- Organize your volunteer team
- Complete the Team Up to Clean Up registration below
Team Up to Clean Up is a year-round city-wide community cleanup program. This program provides all the tools you need to run a community cleanup including gloves, recycling bags and specially marked garbage bags. Approximately 25,000 volunteers participate in Team Up to Clean Up each year and invest more than 45,000 volunteer hours to help clean our community.
The program helps keep public places in your neighbourhood clean and safe for everyone. You can host a cleanup event on City property including parks, trails, alleyways, streets and parking lots.
Team Up to Clean Up Program Streams
One-Time Event Stream
This stream is for those organizing a community cleanup event. Even if you host multiple events each year, you would register each event individually.
Ongoing Stream
This stream is for those looking to have supplies on hand at home for sporadic or regular litter collecting activities.
Familiarize yourself with volunteer responsibilities and terms by reviewing the Volunteer Handbook available in the Team Up to Clean Up Toolkit tab. Contact cleanandgreen@hamilton.ca with any questions.
Choose a location
Select an area where you’ve noticed a lot of litter, such as:
- Sporting events
- Neighbourhood streets
- Vacant lots or parking lots (ensure you have the owners permission)
- Parks, trails or play areas
- We discourage cleanup near busy streets due to safety concerns
Set the date
Arrange a date and time that will ensure a good turnout of volunteers. Set a rain date in case of bad weather.
Gather volunteers
Find volunteers by encouraging your friends, family and neighbours to join your cleanup event.
Arrange for a volunteer to pick up your supplies (orange litter bags, clear recycling bags, gloves) from the Municipal service Center you selected on your registration form. Most Municipal Service Centres are open between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm Monday to Friday (except statutory holidays). Check Municipal Service Centre locations and hours online before you visit.
Review Health & Safety and Toolkit information With Volunteers
Before starting the clean-up, ensure all volunteers have reviewed the health & safety information available in the Team Up to Clean Up Toolkit. Ensure all volunteers have signed the volunteer waiver and photo consent form.
Host your cleanup on the registered date, or set rain date.
Promote your event by sharing before and after photos on social media using #TeamUpToCleanUp and #cleanhamont. Tag us in your photos using our social media handles:
- Instagram: @cityofhamilton
- X: @cityofhamilton
- LinkedIn: @cityofhamilton
The litter you collect from your Team Up to Clean Up event should be disposed of using the option you selected on your registration form. Options for disposal include:
Curbside
- Place collected litter curbside at your house on waste collection day. All litter must be put in orange Team Up to Clean up bags to be exempt from your curbside garbage limits. These bags are only available to groups who have registered with Team Up to Clean Up. Do not use your trash tags on these bags.
- You can put out as much recycling as you need on your waste collection day. Place recycling in your blue box or the clear plastic bags provided in your supply kit.
Collection (available to one-time stream events only)
- You can request collection from the City if you have 10 or more bags that need to be collected.
- If this option is selected on your registration form, you will be asked to specify a location where you intend to leave the collected litter. Bags must be left at this location following the cleanup.
Park Garbage Containers (available to park clean-ups only)
- Place specially marked bags around garbage containers location in the Park.
Transfer Station (available to one-time stream events only)
- Take collected litter to the transfer station.
- A tipping fee waiver will be provided in your supply kit if this options is selected on your registration form.
- Following the event, take collected litter to the transfer station and show the provided tipping fee waiver to the scale house attendant.