Iqaluit (Oct 23/06) - Spending an afternoon prying pop cans and grocery bags from a frozen stream bed might not sound like the best way to get your kicks, but Connie Burke says you might be surprised.

The Grade 12 student at Inuksuk high school was one of a half-dozen volunteers picking up litter in downtown Iqaluit near the elders' centre on Oct. 11.

"It's just to clean up the town and it's actually fun," she said.

Wednesday's was the third such cleanup organized by Nunavut Tourism.

The organization approached students at Inuksuk high school to help, making it an easy way for students to earn some of the 25 hours of community service they need to graduate.

"We wanted to present a better face (of Iqaluit) to the tourists," said Allison Dubeau, of Nunavut Tourism. "There's some really strange things that you'll find, and of course we're going to areas where it kind of concentrates."

The volunteers find things like whole bicycles and pieces of furniture.

"I think the grossest thing is the cigarette butts because there are so many of them and they're so difficult to pick up," Dubeau said.

Burke said she's found used diapers and lots of grocery bags. One volunteer had trouble with a bag that had frozen into the ice and pulled it to shreds in the process.

"I found a shoe," said Qarniiq Kilabuk.

Exhibiting the base of an old lamp, Geelasia Boileau, a Grade 11 student, said she felt good about helping solve the oft-lamented litter problem in the capital.

"There's too much garbage around town," she said. "I just want people to think (Iqaluit is) a better place."

Wednesday's clean-up is the last of the year, but organizers plan to start up again in the spring. They also hope to expand the project to other communities in the new year.