World Cleanup Day counting in at 158 countries and 15 million participants

With the reports of participation pouring in across the globe, the World Cleanup Day is now counting in at 158 countries and territories, with a total number of 15 million participants joining the biggest waste collection day in human history.

With Cape Verde, Ethiopia and French Polynesia joining the party, the total number of countries and territories involved in World Cleanup Day has grown to 158. The total number of volunteers taking part in the action has risen to 15 million, as the final reports are still coming in.

World Cleanup Day 2018 animated results: https://youtu.be/NsjkepwIR6o

The green wave of cleanups began on the small island nation of Fiji in the morning of 15 September, sweeping across the planet, despite the challenging weather conditions in some regions, and finishing in American Samoa, who joined the day of action just a mere 12 hours before. With 6 tropical cyclones affecting more than 15 countries in different parts of the world, several countries and many regions had to reschedule their cleanup actions to ensure the safety of people involved.

Altogether, 11 countries and territories had to postpone their action dates due to weather-related or political challenges. Teams in the Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Guatemala will carry out their action on 22 September, in Macau on 23 September and in Palestine on 26 September. World Cleanup Day will run into October, with Hong Kong and Sierra Leone conducting their cleanups on 6 October. Teams in Chile, Mauritania, Rwanda and South Korea are yet to specify the rescheduled dates of their postponed actions.

“I truly admire the courage of our team leaders in different countries who have brought people out to act for change, amidst the storms, unrest and other very severe challenges. This day was a day of hope – that we can act together as humanity to create a better tomorrow. This needs to be matched up by efforts from our political leaders, policy makers and enterprises to shift from a waste-creating and waste-tolerating society into an efficient and resource-conscious one,” said Anneli Ohvril, a member of the managing board of the Let’s Do It1 Foundation, propelling the World Cleanup Day.

A group of renowned researchers and experts, led by Enzo Favoino, has been working under the wing of the Let’s Do it! Foundation to prepare a clear set of suggestions, titled the “Keep It Clean Plan”, which was released on 16 September. The plan embeds the principles of the Zero Waste strategy and concludes with recommended actions for businesses, governments, citizens and NGOs to implement specific steps to deal with the global mismanaged waste crisis. Favoino says: “With this Plan, we want to harness the potential created by the success of the World Cleanup Day and drive change in the management of discarded resources. We have therefore defined those practices which will help tackle the global challenge of mismanaged waste, can optimise the management of resources included in our discards and, at the same time, could tap into the potential of creating jobs and promote economic development of communities in reuse, repair, recycling and composting activities.”

Let’s do it! Foundation is looking to work in cooperation with the country and community leaders, as well as with partners, to develop further country-based roadmaps towards better waste management systems and policies, thus engaging public and private sectors as well as local communities. The further collaborative steps based on the Keep It Clean Plan will be decided together with the Let’s do it! country leaders at the 8th annual Clean World Conference, held in Tallinn on 24-27 January, 2019.

World Cleanup Day is propelled by the civic movement Let’s do it! World, which has been initiating cleanup actions across 113 countries throughout the last decade, with now over 35 million volunteers taking part in total. Let’s do it! World has also proven to be a movement of peace and bridge-building. “In many countries and regions, this cause has already united groups and cultures that have been defining themselves through differences, bringing with it not just cleaner and healthier environments, but also a realisation that true cooperation and understanding is possible,” added Anneli Ohvril, a member of the managing board of the Let’s do it! movement.

World Cleanup Day stories from different countries and more information about the results are available on the website. The World Cleanup Day Live Show, which ran 24 hours non-stop, was hosted by Irish TV presenter and producer Colm Flynn and TV presenter Zihlo Ndlovu from Zimbabwe and is available for viewing on YouTube. All the original content in the channel is free for media to use.

The full list of artists whose contributions were used in the World Cleanup Live Show is Kimbra, Jack Johnson, Kodaline, Gilles Peterson, José González, Snatam Kaur, Amadou & Mariam, Neil Davidge, Dispatch, Crystal Fighters, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Herencia de Timbiquí, Paul Oakenfold, Liquicity DJ-d (Hybrid Minds, Maduk, T&Sugah), Paul Oakenfold, Ewert & The Two Dragons, NOËP, H20 Orchestra (Sonidos de la Tierra), Vocal Line, Simon Lynge and Amir John Haddad. Artists and actors who attended cleanups and helped to spread the word include Jack Johnson, Snatam Kaur, Trad Attack!, NOËP, Iiris, Paavo Järvi, Eivør Pálsdóttir, Balth, Mai Leisz, Johann Urb, Alar Kivilo (producer), Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedwick and Lola Kirke.

The Let’s do it! World movement began in the small Northern European tech-savvy country of Estonia in 2008, when 50,000 people came together to clean up the entire country in just five hours. Technology created by former Skype chief architect and co-founder of Starship Technologies, Ahti Heinla, enabled the organising team to map more than 10,000 trashpoints before the cleanup and arrange the work of 50,000 volunteers. Together they collected more than 10,000 tons of mismanaged waste from the nature and public areas.

The year 2018 marks 100 years since the founding of the Republic of Estonia. World Cleanup Day 2018 is Estonia’s biggest gift to the world on its 100th anniversary. More information about the centenary events can be found at www.EV100.ee

More information:

Website: www.worldcleanupday.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldcleanupday2018/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/letsdoitworld

Photos: https://www.facebook.com/pg/worldcleanupday2018/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2361783967195279