London, Ont. kicks off annual 12 Days of Cleaning event

London ranks number two for cleaning up cigarette butts, but one organizer of 12 Days of Cleaning hopes that after this year, the city will be number one.

The sun was shining at Labatt Park as many gathered to kick off the first day of London’s 12 Days of Cleaning event, running until April 23.

The stands were filled with many guests, including the London Environmental Network; Jay Stanford, director of climate change, environment and waste management at the city of London; London Mayor Ed Holder; Mike Smith, London Clean & Green founder and owner of Kool group restaurants. The annual event has been running for almost three decades and is a very important initiative for London.

“I think it’s a shame that this has to happen at all,” Holder said. “We live in a great city and some people just don’t respect how important it is to be clean and green.”

The focus this year is on the animals and how they are affected.

“One of the reasons we’re doing it for the animals and highlighting is they don’t have a voice,” Stanford said.

“Some of the items that are on the ground — you will see a squirrel, skunk, raccoon, eating those items and it’s just not fair to them. They’re part of our natural heritage here in London and they need a voice.”

Items that are most commonly littered in London and then consumed by animals are cigarette butts. Because of that, the London Environmental Network are focusing on cleaning them up.

“Every one in five pieces of litter is cigarette butts,” said Skylar Franke, executive director of London Environmental Network.