The GTAA joined millions of other people around the globe on Wednesday, April 22, in a celebration of Earth Day at Toronto Pearson. In recognition of the GTAA’s commitment to the environment, the focus this Earth Day was on cleaning up the creek areas on the airport property.

Students from two Mississauga schools were invited to come out to the airport and assist in the creek cleanup events. Grade 11 students from the aquatic ecology class at Mentor College had the opportunity to work alongside GTAA employees near Spring Creek, which runs next to runway 33L/15R. They participated by picking up garbage and removing anything that the airport would term as FOD, or foreign object debris.

Joined by Mississauga City Councillor Eve Adams, the second group that participated in this event was a class from Holy Cross School. This group of Grade 5 and 6 students spent their time cleaning up areas near Etobicoke Creek.

“Having students learn about the importance of Earth Day and take an active role will help create awareness for future generations,” said Councillor Adams.

More than 70 students and 25 GTAA staff collected almost 100 bags of garbage. In addition to this total, other larger items were pulled from creek areas, such as mattresses, chairs, tires, and even a car bumper.

“The GTAA takes pride in our expansive environmental program and is committed to continually striving for improvement,” said Randy McGill, GTAA General Manager, Environmental Stewardship. “We’re excited to have these students here to assist in this as they are the future of the community and will be the ones benefiting from these events.”

The GTAA would like to thank all the students and teachers from both Holy Cross School and Mentor College that came out to help cleanup Toronto Pearson. By working together, we are confident that we can reduce our environmental footprint on our community.