Thousands of volunteers clear litter on World Cleanup Day
Saturday 21 September is World Cleanup Day and thousands of volunteers are clearing up litter from hundreds of locations across the country. Some of them are clearing riverbanks of litter as part of River Cleanup that is also taking place today.
The many volunteers are spending Saturday helping clean up their local area and make it free of litter. Those taking part in River Cleanup are concentrating their efforts on the Rivers Scheldt and Maas and their tributaries.
Around 50 specific litter clearing actions are taking place on or near to riverbanks. River Cleanup’s Thomas De Groote told journalists that “River Cleanup hopes to use positive means to raise awareness and get people to act”.
The material used in the various clean-up operations such as bin liners, gloves and litter pickers are being provided by municipal authorities and sponsors. The collection of bin liners filled with the rubbish that has been collected also needs to be arranged with local authorities. The organisers advise groups taking part to contact their local inter-municipal rubbish collection agency.
The first World Cleanup Day was held in Estonia in 2008. World Cleanup Day is held on the third Saturday in September. Last year on 15 September 18 million people in 157 countries took part. The organisers say that it was the biggest ever global clean-up operation. Here in Belgium 7,252 bin liners were filled with a total of 435m³ of litter.
