Spring cleaning

Now that snow seems to be gone (yes, even the stuff that fell last week), the practice here is to clean the streets of what they call "winter debris." This is what the notice on the City of Calgary website says:

This year Spring Clean-Up takes place from mid-April until mid-June and will see around 37,000 tonnes of winter sanding materials, dirt and other debris removed from our roadways.

In Cochrane, we started seeing these signs around town:

I can't help but wonder what they do with all the crap they pick up? Can they clean it and use it next year? Can it be used for anything else? Mixed with asphalt for road repair?

There really is a lot of it, even on our small street. It'll be easier to ride a bike when I don't have to worry about skidding on all that loose stuff by the side of the road. And we have a better chance of avoiding rock chips in the windshield if there's less on the road. In Alberta however, you never avoid them for long. We've already had three or four windshield replacements or repairs in the short time we've been here. Would I prefer snow? Well, it doesn't do as much damage, But I can certainly live without the cold. Spring cleaning and spring weather? Bring it on!