A street cleaning initiative funded by the City of Vancouver collected tens of thousands of used syringes and massive amounts of garbage from the Downtown Eastside (DTES) in 2025, highlighting the ongoing challenges in the neighbourhood.
Scale of the Cleanup Effort
According to a city report, the program gathered 26,700 discarded needles in the first eleven months of 2025. In addition to the hazardous waste, workers picked up a staggering 17,400 bags of general litter and pressure-washed 240 city blocks. The report, from the general manager of engineering services, provides a stark quantitative look at the scale of street-level debris in the area.
The numbers represent a decrease from the previous year, when 46,400 needles were collected in all of 2024. The program, which began in the last ten months of 2023, gathered 32,800 needles in its initial phase. The cleanup operations are carried out by the Mission Possible Compassionate Ministries Society, a non-profit organization hired by the city.
Program Origins and Social Impact
The contract with Mission Possible was first established in early 2023, during the height of the Hastings Street encampment. The initiative was designed with a dual purpose: to clean the streets and to provide low-barrier employment opportunities for DTES residents. The encampment, which began in the summer of 2022, was dismantled by city workers and police in early April 2023.
Beyond sanitation, the program has a significant outreach component. The city report notes that in the same 11-month period in 2025, workers referred over a thousand people to support services and managed 60 incidents requiring de-escalation. The proposed continuation of the program for 2026-2028, at a cost of just under $3 million, aims to maintain these combined cleaning and community services.
Funding and Future Recommendations
The report formally recommends that Vancouver city council continue its contract with Mission Possible for another three-year term. The total cost of the proposed extension is nearly $3 million. The society, formed in 1992, reported annual revenues of $2.9 million in its latest financial statements and employs 10 full-time and 26 part-time staff.
"The proposed grant for 2026 — 2028 will maintain these services, with flexibility to adjust based on emerging needs identified by staff," the report states. This ongoing investment underscores the city's commitment to addressing both the visible sanitation issues and the underlying social needs in the Downtown Eastside through a single, integrated program.
