After the idea first came up nearly two years ago, the City of Moose Jaw will be officially creating a Community Cleanup Committee.

Discussed at city council on Monday, the idea would see a committee that would lead and coach specific areas into working with the city to help keep things as litter-free as possible.

City Manager Jim Puffalt explained the benefit of having the committee.

"It can't just be the city, it can't just be the neighbourhoods doing the work, we need to coordinate and help each other out as much as possible. I recall when first coming to Moose Jaw, people wanting to pick up litter from a park and they couldn't take it to the waste disposal site because we were going to charge them for it. If we're asking people to give us a hand with things, we should find ways to support them, not make it more difficult."

The new committee would be made up of 14 members, including a member from each of the school divisions, the Chamber of Commerce, Tourism Board, Downtown Moose Jaw Association, and each of the city's community associations.

Mayor Fraser Tolmie brought the idea back to the forefront with a motion back in January.

"It is a big committee, but it's going to split up and each work in little regions, I'm very excited about it. When your eight-year-old daughter talks about the amount of litter on the street and dad is the mayor and should be fixing this, I know that there are community groups out there that are doing great things, but this is just creating access and showing that this city and council care about the state of our community. It's not just about the litter, it's also things that we are addressing with signage and different areas within the community that we may not see, that others in the community do see."

The committee would work not just on cleaning garbage, but also work toward stopping individuals from littering in the first place.

Funding for the committee would be sourced through the Solid Waste Utility Budget, and expenses such as garbage bags and supply would come out-of-pocket.