Adopt-a-Road

Helping reduce litter where we live, work, and play!

At RiteBite Orthodontics we strive for the highest quality of care. Part of this quality of care involves taking part in our community as well. In April 2011 we decided, as an office, we wanted to give back to our community in a way that would be beneficial and make a difference. We became part of the Waterloo Region Adopt-a-Road Program. Currently 70 organizations participate in Adopt-a-Road.


There were several safety rules and regulations that we needed to follow in order to keep ourselves safe. The Region provides safety training, safety vests, flags and trash bags, and collects bagged litter after a cleanup. While we cleaned the road we all needed to be wearing the bright orange safety vests. This was one of the safety precautions so vehicles passing by were able to see us from a distance and be careful while driving past us. It was recommended that we wear safety gloves as well while picking up the garbage. We realized very quickly that long pants were beneficial, especially in the tall grass. During one of our cleanups, one of our team members, Jenna, decided to take safety to the next level and dress head to toe in fluorescent clothing; sporting lime green leggings, a bright pink tank top, and a lime green sweatshirt. She definitely turned a few heads that day! ☺


In the spring/summer of 2011 we, as a team, did our first clean up on Fountain Street, between Woolwich St. and Menno St. We had a great turn out with members of our team as well as their family members. It was a scorching hot day but we rallied together to get the job done. We were able to clean the 2km stretch of road in approximately 2.5 hours. Picking up garbage may not sound very entertaining or glamorous but it was a great team building experience. In total we picked up 13 bags of garbage during our first road clean up. It was very surprising to us all how much garbage there was in such a small area. Our second road clean up for 2011 was in September. We didn’t have as much garbage to pick up during that outing but we still filled 8 garbage bags full. Again, shocking!! 


We are privileged to participate once again in the Adopt-a-Road program. We completed our first clean up on May 25, 2012. We were able to fill 12 bags and completed this in 2 hours with a group of 8. More than 6,200 bags of garbage have been collected to date through the Adopt-a-Road program. We look forward to the next time we can get back out there and keep our road beautiful!