Here are some ways we can help you to participate in improving the environment at home and in your neighbourhood!
At home
Managing your waste
We’re here to help with recycling and composting! You can pick up bins for recycling and compost/food waste collection (if you live in a building with 8 units or less) along with useful information at our office. Check out our pages on each topic below!
Un arbre pour mon quartier
We’re proud to participate in the Un arbre pour mon quartier program and provide trees at a reduced price for residents .
Annual flower distribution
Each year at the end of spring, borough residents can take advantage of the flower and compost distribution offered by the borough. Groups can also take advantage of a separate distribution. Eligible groups include resident associations, housing cooperatives, schools, churches, community gardens, retirement homes, SHDM, OMHM, and other non-profit organisations.
Check the borough website or our events calendar for the event details each year!
Grant program for washable diapers and feminine hygiene products
By choosing to use reusable, washable hygiene products you can reduce your personal waste. The borough offers grant money to help out with the cost of purchasing washable diapers and feminine hygiene products.
Graffiti
While some graffiti are veritable works of art, many are acts of vandalism that you would rather have removed. If you are interested in removing graffiti from your property, stop by our office for a free graffiti removal kit.
There are also preventative measures that can help to deter graffiti artists:
- install adequate lighting and consider installing a motion sensor system
- install a fence to limit access
- remove any graffiti promptly
- keep the area clean and free of litter
- get permission to paint a mural
- plant vines or shrubs
In your neighbourhood
Would you like to help improve your neighbourhood’s appearance and the quality of its natural environment? Here are some options available to you!
Green alleyways
Is there an alleyway in your area you’d like to make greener and more pleasant for the residents in your neighbourhood? We may be able to offer you support to organise a green alleyway project to help beautify your neighbourhood!
Adopt a green space
Would you like a space of your own to garden? Do you live in an apartment without a space of your own? Whether you already have a garden or not, you can adopt one of the many small green spaces throughout Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce to help beautify your neighbourhood and increase the presence of nature in the borough.
You may also have access to free flowers to plant in your green space. Please get in touch with us for details or check out the borough’s page on this initiative below.
Cleanliness in your neighbourhood
Please help us keep Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce as clean as possible!
The borough works to keep things as clean as possible, but residents have a role to play as well. We offer guidance and support as well as free tools to help you to organise cleanup activities in your neighbourhood. These activities can help foster a sense of community and belonging amongst residents, as they work towards a common goal.
Ragweed eradication
Ragweed is known for the symptoms it causes in those who are allergic to it: a tingling nose, congestion, red eyes, coughing and even chronic sinusitis or asthma. We support, advise, and assist residents, businesses and organizations in Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce who are dealing with ragweed. Our work involves promoting awareness for those responsible for private and public properties, ragweed removal squads throughout Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, and ragweed removal activities, carried out throughout the summer and in particular before the flowering of this noxious plant.
If you notice ragweed on your property or in public, ou can help by pulling up or cutting ragweed plants at ground level as soon as they emerge in May, until the end of July, before the flowers appear. After the flowers appear, the release of pollen causes reactions in people with allergies. You can also mow ragweed. Mowing should also be done before the end of July and should be repeated at the end of August. Once pulled or cut, the plants wither within minutes. They can be disposed of in the garbage. It is not recommended to put them in the compost because ragweed seeds can remain viable and germinate.
Once ragweed has been removed, measures should be taken to prevent it from growing back. This involves establishing a competitive cover crop. Sow the areas cleared of ragweed with plants that can compete with future ragweed plants that will grow from seeds left in the ground. You can also use inert materials such as mulch or flagstones that restrict plant establishment and growth.
