Date: Saturday, 18 September 2021; 4th Anniversary.
Sponsor:
Let’s Do It! World – A global civic organization and network headquartered in Estonia and an accredited member of the United Nations Environment Program.
Objective:
World Cleanup Day is one of the biggest civic movements but the youngest one, which aims to raise awareness of the illegally dumped solid waste crisis and combat the waste problems (e.g., plastic debris) in land, water, forest, and ocean around the world.
Inception:
The first World Cleanup Day was held globally on 15 September 2018 (3rd Saturday of September).
History
The cleanup movement originated in Estonia from an event called Let’s Dot It 2018, taken place on 3 May 2008. During the event over 50000 Estonians came out of their homes and cleaned up more than 10000 tons of illegal waste in one day. Rapidly, the cleanup movement spread from Estonia to other parts of Europe.
By the end of 2011, over 2.5 million people in 16 European countries had participated in Let’s Do It! cleanup actions. In 2012, a series of cleanups happened in 96 countries worldwide from 24 March to 25 September, bringing millions of volunteers together.
In February 2014, the Let’s Do It! Clean World Conference was held in Prishtina, Kosovo, concluding that “the aim of the global movement is to clean up the whole world from illegally dumped solid waste and to keep the planet clean”.
On 15 September 2018, for the first time more than 18 million people in 157 countries took part in the global cleanup actions at the same day. This resulted in the first World Cleanup Day.
Since then, the World Cleanup Day has been annually observed on the 3rd Saturday of September. So far, the cleanup movement has united millions of people in 180 countries across the global to clean up our planet.
How to observe World Cleanup Day
Get involved into the action!
Since 2018, millions of people have been brought together annually for the world’s biggest solid waste collection day in human history. On that day, numerous volunteers and partners worldwide came together to take part in the waste cleanup activities spanning every time zone. All are welcome to join local, national, and regional clean-up events to clean up litter and illegally dumped solid waste from our streets, rivers, beaches, and forests.
Individuals, organizations, corporations, and governments are also encouraged to organize workshops and regional gatherings, bring together volunteers and initiators to raise awareness, share experiences, and find solutions to tackle mismanaged waste.
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