Each spring, thousands of volunteers across Alberta come out with garbage bags and reflective vests to help clean up Alberta's highways.

This is all part of the Alberta Highway Clean-up event, put on by Alberta Transportation, which takes place every year on the first or second Saturday in May, weather permitting.

The event goes from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. this Saturday, with Mother Nature hopefully cooperating. This event was established as a fundraiser for non-profit and community organizations, with the main goal to help clean up the ditches on Alberta's highways once all the snow melts.

Last year, the Alberta government contributed $974,025 to 622 volunteer organizations, as more than 14 thousand volunteers helped clean up more than 12,600 km of Alberta roadways.

Operations Manager with Alberta Transportation Mike Baik talks about some of the groups in Central Alberta who will be participating.

"In the Red Deer area we have over 80 groups’ participating. Big Brothers, 4-H clubs, Scouts clubs. There will be just over 1,400 km of highways that will be cleaned".

Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Phil Boehme is the leader of the Ward 2 Scouts, and he says his group will be cleaning the highways north of Lacombe Saturday morning.

"We're going to be cleaning the highway north of Lacombe, from the Morningside turnoff on Highway 2, continuing on Highway 2 to the Ponoka junction at Highway 53. We have a youth group, both scouts and the youth that are part of our church, the LDS church sponsors the scout group, as well as the youth involved, so it's boys and girls ages 9 and older to 18 years old. We typically have about 30 youth, than about 20 adults, give or take."

For more information you can call 310-0000 toll-free, or by visiting the Annual Highway Clean up website.