TIMMINS -- It's one of the busiest times of the year for cleaning business owner Sylvie Levesque in Timmins.

With the city's beloved Spring Cleanup program cancelled for the second time due to COVID-19, she said it's especially important to keep up with spring cleaning traditions.

"Your home could get really dirty because you bring germs and viruses from everywhere you go during your day," said Levesque. "There is a lot of littering in the city also, so it's not just home cleaning — it's outside, yard cleaning, picking up garbage. Keeping our city nice and clean and being proud of it."

The city is encouraging people to toss their junk at the Deloro Landfill — it is waiving tipping fees during near the end of May Details can be found here.

But the city's chief administrative officer, Dave Landers, said the city couldn't justify continuing its popular cleanup program, due to the risks of the pandemic and a stay-at-home order in place.

"A lot of people go house-to-house and yard-to-yard and sorting through other people's cleanup debris, which leads to a lot more traffic in and around the neighbourhoods," Landers said. "In this year, we certainly can't be encouraging people to travel throughout the community in such a way."

Difficult to deploy contractors

Plus, he said it would be difficult to figure out how to deploy contractors while following the COVID-19 regulations in time to deliver the program.

But while residents go about their personal spring cleanups, Landers advises people to sort out their junk by material to make the process smoother.

And Levesque noted that deep-cleaning your home is a must-do but can be a bit daunting, so she suggested some must-clean areas to start with.

"Under the furniture is a really big one, the vents," Levesque said, as well as cleaning all of the handles and doorknobs around your home.

Pandemic or not, she said it's important to keep your home hygienic throughout the year, but the spring season is a great time to get into the habit.

"It makes you feel good when you have a clean home, to stay healthy and keep the germs out and have a nice-looking home," Levesque said.