Earth Day Activities 2026

Though Earth day itself is on Wednesday April 22nd, the festivities will be before, on Saturday the 18th where OSEAN will be participating in the River Ward Earth Day. OSEAN will have. booth and is leading a variety of activities throughout the day!

As part of our Pollinator Patches program, we’ll be giving away free packages of native seeds from our seed library (this can be planted this spring!) as well as discussing with gardeners whether they’d be interested in stewarding or other propagation volunteering opportunities.

As part of our Waste Diversion efforts we will be inviting people to bring clothing items that need some TLC to our mending mentors - and encourage everyone to Stitch It! Don’t Ditch It! (And we will be sharing information about our goal to host regular mending circles in Ottawa South).

In addition, inspired by the amazing work by EnviroCrew of Old Ottawa South, we have expand our collection of items that will be repurposed or responsibly recycled and will have very large collection.

And of course we will be collecting lone mittens for our Lonely Mitten Project and Yogurt container for. collaboration with Gaia Organic Seeds.

New this year we will be hosting a "mini” version of a “Free Sale” Drop and Swap to peak your curiosity for our main Drop and Swap event happening the following weekend (April 25th) at the RA Centre, 2451 Riverside drive. We’re also looking for volunteers who are interested in helping with that event.

We are excited that Invasive Species will get some special attention this year as well. Join Community Action for Environmental Sustainability (CAFES) and local experts for a panel discussion. Learn about invasive plant species – why they are an issue, how to identify them, how to get involved to safely remove them, and replacing them with native species.
Pre-register here: bit.ly/InvasivePlantWorkshop

For children’s activities, we have some arts and crafts, and a guided educational walk planned.

We will also be supporting some Councilor Riley Brockington’s events, including a Children’s Bike Rodeo and Electronic Waste Collection (which will accept anything that is operated by a cord or batteries)

McCarthy Park Clean Up: Bring a rake to beautify McCarthy Park. Gloves, garbage and leaf bags will be provided at the Community Centre.
Junk That Funk E-Waste Depot (behind Shoppers Drug Mart / Metro parking lot on McCarthy Road),
and Battery Drop off: Only AA, AAA, 9V and D batteries accepted.