Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Friday, September 14, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - The sand pits got its first organized cleaning Sunday as about 15 men and women showed up from the NWT Blizzard Wizards 4x4 club.

"We decided as a club to come together on that day to take all the garbage out and all the big stuff that makes the sand pits look ugly," said Jeff Corradetti who formed the club last January, along with Kyle Thomas.

The group was dismayed by the amount of garbage building up at the sand pits and at the suggestion of member Mike Nolting, decided to take on the large task of cleaning it up.

The Blizzard Wizards spent about five hours on the job and Corradetti estimates there was about two dump trucks worth of garbage.

"We found everything in there from couches to mattresses to stucco drywall, just junk. Tires, a lot of tires and we pulled out four vehicles, cars that were burnt and abandoned there. Some had been there for years apparently," he said.

The group got permission for the cleanup from the city, which donated garbage bags.

The event was co-ordinated with Dennis Althouse at the Publics Works Department.

"Our crews will be picking up some of those cars and the cars that they pulled out we will be taking all of them to the solid waste, as well as cleaning up some of the tires and just regular garbage that's strewn out there," said Althouse.

The sand pits are commonly used as a dumping ground for people who don't want to pay the city service fees at the dump. It is also a popular area for large items, like cars, to be trashed.

According to Althouse the city retrieves vehicles from the sand pits usually only twice a year, after the Municipal Enforcement Division identifies them.

Praising the group's efforts, Althouse said, "It's nice that we have conscientious people like that out there utilizing that area. Maybe if there's people like that out there we'll have fewer partiers and people dropping off garbage and that sort of thing."