While it was overcast on Saturday, the sun shined brightly on a local family who are battling hard against cancer. 

The Town of Drumheller will be offering their annual Spring Cleanup service again beginning May 2, and town staff want to stress the importance of following procedure to ensure the free service runs efficiently.

Landfill Operations Manager Tammi Nygaard wants to stress that items must be separated in piles according to their category, that the cleanup is for household waste and not commercial waste, and if people wish to try and salvage items from properties prior to cleanup that they ask permission of the property owner.

“We had people in the past who would salvage items from properties but jumble up the piles and leave a mess,” said Nygaard. “Technically it’s stealing because you’re going onto private property.”

Nygaard also stresses that the cleanup is for personal, household waste and not commercial. 

In order to be picked up, leaves must be bagged and branches cut to no longer than four feet, as Nygaard says they’ve had property owners cut down trees and leave them almost in whole for town employees to pick up. 

“We need to keep it sorted and separated so we can do the work in the small amount of time that we have,” she said.

This year’s clean up will begin May 2 in East Coulee and then Rosedale on May 3, which is different from previous years. Town employees found those eastern communities were the longest days of hauling, and felt that it would be better to do the hardest labour early in the cleanup while they are fresh.