Let’s pitch in for Mayerthorpe

Do you want to be a part of the largest environmental campaign in Canada if not the world? Why not register early for 2007 Pitch-in campaign which runs April 23-29th.
Pitch-in Canada is a national non-profit and charitable organization, established in 1967. More than 3.5 million volunteers participate in thousands of projects each year. All share a common interest: to improve communities and the environment.

The 41st annual Pitch-in Canada Week campaign, Operation: Clean Sweep, will involve more than three million participants in more than 12,000 projects.
Free materials, including large yellow specially imprinted garbage and recycling bags, will be provided on a first come, first serve basis.
“Everybody is proud to use our popular yellow bags featuring the Pitch-in Canada logo,” said Misha van Veen, Pitch-in Canada’s program manager and former Pitch-in volunteer. “The number of participants and projects increased dramatically in 2006.”
Van Veen explained that volunteers can also obtain free materials to assist with the campaign for their project.

“We provide colouring books, posters, educational materials and so much more,” she said. “Just go to our online Resource Centre at www.pitch-in.ca.”
Van Veen says that volunteers love doing projects that benefit their local community and being a part of a project that is nationwide.
You can register for Pitch-in Canada week online at www.pitch-in.ca and the website will provide all the information required for communities and volunteers to plan their activities.
While many volunteers choose to organize clean-ups or fix ups of their communities, another good option is to organize a cell phone collection program.
According to Pitch-in Canada, modifications to provincial legislation aimed at recycling e-waste have consistently failed to include celular phones in the list of consumer products that can be reused and recycled.
“It is surprising that, considering the concern which Canadians have for maintaining a quality environment and the phenomenal growth in the recycling industry, that cell phones are still not included in the provincial recycling legislation across Canada,” said van Veen.
According to Pitch-in Canada, Canadian communities and the environment pay
the price by facing the threat of leaching toxins from landfills as a result of improperly disposed of cellular phones.
“Whether reusing and recycling obsolete cellular phones is made mandatory by legislation or promoted by private programs such as ours, we need people to know that cellular phones need to b e disposed of properly, and this can be done easily, locally and often benefits a good cause,” said van Veen.
Pitch-in Canada‚s National Cell Phone Program supports over 500 cell phone recycling collectors across the country. Local collector groups can register online at www.pitch-in.ca and set up the cell phone collection in their community using a provided starter kit. Once 50 phones are collected, Pitch-in Canada arranges to have the phones picked up.
“What is fantastic about our cell phone program is that all of our collectors are local,” explained van Veen. “They run their programs and reap the benefits from their collection program and they know that by educating their local community about the potential danger of improperly disposed of cell phones they are helping to keep toxins out of their backyards.”