CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Communities across the Capital Region have seen cleanup efforts over the past several days in honor of Earth Week, with Earth Day coming and going this past Friday. In Albany, dozens of volunteers hit the streets Sunday morning to pick up in the Warehouse District.

“There’s always this sense of pride when you come in tomorrow, Monday, and there’s just a noticeable difference,” said Joshua Whelan, the director of sales and marketing for Nine Pin Cider, who hosted Sunday’s event.

The ciderworks’ annual effort included many volunteers, including some from other local businesses in the city. Supplies, including shovels and garbage bags, were given by the city’s Department of Public Service. Whelan says the event has continued to grow over the years.

“The first year we did it, we must’ve had maybe 20, but now it’s grown to maybe about a hundred. It’s great, it’s great to see the Albany community come out, and help clean up our city. The health of our environment in our local community is incredibly important to us,” he said.

Volunteers covered a roughly four-block radius around Nine Pin, filling up garbage bags with everything from plastic bottles, cigarette butts, styrofoam, and cans.

Their efforts Sunday morning were far from the only ones this weekend. On Saturday, volunteers were out in Watervliet to clean up several areas of the city, including preparing parks for the warmer months ahead.

“You can see the progress and how nice everything looks, between the parks, going up and down Broadway now and things of that nature. It just makes everyone feel good,” said Watervliet Mayor Charles Patricelli.