“Operation: Clean Sweep,” the town’s annual roadside cleanup effort, starts Monday and runs through May 9, with targeted cleanup efforts May 1-2.

An organized town cleanup is a spring tradition that dates back 100 years in Haines, and Chamber of Commerce executive director Debra Schnabel said she’s hoping citizens will pitch in again this year.

Besides prizes for households that collect the most roadside trash and cash for nonprofits that collect it, the event will feature refreshments at the firehall checkpoint during next weekend’s targeted cleanup.

Downtown streets will be targeted Friday evening, May 1. Haines Highway and rural roads will be the focus Saturday, May 2.

“I’m hoping this will be more fun” than previous cleanups, Schnabel said.

Landfill operator Community Waste Solutions and waste utility Acme Transfer are again donating passes to their facilities as prizes for households hauling the most refuse. The Chamber of Commerce will pay nonprofits $2 per bag for roadside trash they collect.

Households and nonprofits need to haul their collected garbage either to CWS or Acme facilities and must set up accounts with those companies to receive credit for bags turned in.

Individuals cleaning up trash on their own can leave filled bags, tied off, in safe places along the side of the road. Borough crews will pick up those bags.

Schnabel said she’s encouraging local businesses to have employees pick up trash around their premises. The Haines Borough will also participate by directing its workers to help out during the town cleanup 3-5 p.m. Friday, May 1.

Schnabel said she pursued the arrangement with the borough to offset a decline in participation in the cleanup in recent years. “I saw it as a great labor pool.”

Landfill operations manager Mike Dorris said he constantly picks up garbage on his commute from his Lutak Road home to work. It tends to pile up at Tanani Point, he said. “It just looks gross to me. Plus, I’m on my way to the landfill,” Dorris said this week.

Participating in the town cleanup is a way to set an example, Dorris said. “Our kids don’t need to be walking around in garbage.”

Cleanup trash bags are available April 27-May at the Chamber office, CWS, Bigfoot Auto, DOT, Haines School, Lutak Lumber, Haines Home Building, Chilkoot Indian Association and harbormaster’s office.

Call the Chamber at 766-2202.