GTA communities mark Earth Day with public makeovers

Residents across Toronto and the GTA are celebrating Earth Day on Tuesday by cleaning up their community, raising money for charity and planting trees.

Halton Hills hosted a 22-minute makeover, encouraging employees and students to get outside and help in the cleanup effort — even if it’s only for 22 minutes.

The Town of Halton Hills said city staff is often one of the largest groups to participate in the makeover. Anyone looking to join in can contact the Infrastructure Services Department at (905) 873-2601 ext. 2603 to register and arrange for free gloves and bags.

In downtown Toronto, employees of Aveda gathered at St. James Park, near King and Church streets, to raise money for WaterCan. The Canadian charity provides clean water to the world’s poorest people.

At the Royal Ontario Museum, students can see live birds of prey to learn about wildlife and biodiversity.

To commemorate Earth Day, a tree was planted outside Casa Loma at 10 a.m. The historic castle said written messages to Mother Earth were mulched and incorporated into the soil beneath the Mountain Ash.

The Scarborough Town Centre held its cleanup event at 10 a.m. Coun. Glenn De Baeremaeker attended and there was a free barbecue afterward. Click here for more details.

The City of Toronto won’t start its official cleanup until Friday, when corporate and school teams can participate. Community cleanup days will be held on Saturday and Sunday.

Find out what parks, laneways and other locations are scheduled to be cleaned by Toronto’s amazing volunteers: Click here to see the registered cleanup locations list.

Google also got in on the action on Tuesday, amassing an enormous selection of photos of the planet under the hashtag #MyBeautifulEarth. Click here to see the photos.

Apple is also going green: the iPhone and iPad maker is offering free recycling of all its used products to keep them out of landfills. The company is also vowing to power all of its stores, offices and data centres with renewable energy to reduce pollution.

Earth Day, which began back in 1970, is now celebrated in 192 countries around the world every April 22.

What are you doing for Earth Day? Let us know in the comments.

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