REGINA – The prolonged winter has pushed back the city’s street sweeping schedule by a month. Street sweeping on Ring Road will begin May 5th, while the main arteries will be done beginning the week of May 10th. The city will then tackle residential neighbourhoods through to the beginning of July.

Meanwhile, spring litter collecting will begin next week.

“We notice a fair amount of litter along the Ring Road where people seem to toss stuff out of their windows, things like coffee cups and pop bottles,” said Charmaine Neufeld, manager of parks maintenance for the City of Regina.

And that’s not all – other items which can be spotted along Ring Road are mattresses, a dresser, tarps, car parts and a lot of plastic. Picking up litter costs the city in the ballpark of $50,000 each spring and close to $200,000 a year. The street sweeping budget is $1 million.