About World Cleanup Day
“World Cleanup Day is one of the biggest civic movements of our time, uniting 180 countries across the world for a cleaner planet.”
What is World Cleanup Day?
On World Cleanup Day, people around the world unite and join forces to clean up litter and waste from the environment. The international initiative of World Cleanup Day was born in 2008 in Estonia from the bottom-up civil movement Let’s Do It! World, when 50,000 people united to clean up the entire country in just five hours. Since then, the idea of cleaning up the mess has spread across the globe. The goal is simple: clean up litter on streets, squares, parks, parking areas, along the banks of rivers and in nature. On September 18th, 2021, the Netherlands took part for the fourth time.
Why World Cleanup Day?
Litter is not only unpleasant to look at; eventually, it will pollute the environment and make its way to the oceans, endangering animals and harming the planet and our health. We are going to make a difference! With this positive and very visible initiative, we will be drawing attention to the litter problem and showing that clearing up is the social norm.
In The Netherlands, cleanup actions will be held throughout the country, at times determined by the organisers. Check our interactive map to find an event near you, or organise one yourself: everybody can participate.
World Cleanup Day in The Netherlands
In the Netherlands, World Cleanup Day is initiated by Plastic Soup Foundation and supported by companies and organizations. Plastic Soup Foundation develops the clean-up map and campaign to activate and connect individuals and organizations.
In 2021, 41.342 individuals joined us for a cleaner planet, in 1.574 different cleanups. We have inspired more than 200 schools to take action and have developed educational material, especially for World Cleanup Day. Together with thousands of volunteers, we have registered 90.622 unique trash items in the Litterati app. This data helps us to identify the problem and analyze which type of waste is the biggest problem. Did you know the Dutch are one of the most active users of Litterati worldwide?
Together for a great purpose
In 2020, cans of Red Bull were at the number 1 spot of all brands often found littering our environment. Marlboro was at number 2, and McDonald’s at number 3. The obvious ‘winner’ of most found items in 2020 is the cigarette butt, followed by wrappers, cans, and bottles. Red Bull has taken the initiative to discuss the problem of plastic pollution together with Plastic Soup Foundation and to work on solutions to end this. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have done the same.
Thanks to initiatives like World Cleanup Day, a deposit return system is expected for PET bottles in 2021 and for cans in 2022. And we can amplify our urgent call not to wait any longer and to start reducing our plastic consumption today. On World Cleanup Day, we bring individuals together for a great purpose. We have to raise our voices to fight plastic pollution because together we can make a change!
