Tallinn (Estonia) – 15/09/21 – Millions of people from up to 180 countries have pledged to participate in the fourth World Cleanup Day held on Saturday, September 18. A 24-hour green wave of cleanups, socially distanced and safe, is stretched across the planet beginning in Fiji and ending in Hawaii.
World Cleanup Day is the largest single peacetime civic action against waste, aimed at raising awareness of the scale of the global waste crisis threatening the environment and the lives of millions of people and all living beings. The most recent World Cleanup Day was organized last year in 2020 and engaged 11 million people in 166 countries. In the three years of its existence, World Cleanup Day has engaged 50 million people from more than 180 countries.
“Today, despite the corona pandemic influencing the way we act, people have shown that they are deeply invested in the future of our home – we want a healthy and clean Earth. The mismanaged waste problem has worsened globally because of pandemics. Organizing and holding World Cleanup Day amidst a pandemic is a challenge. But the increasing plastic waste problem can no longer be pushed aside,” says Heidi Solba, the President and Head of Network of Let’s Do It World, coordinator of World Cleanup Day events, inviting everyone to join in on the global cleanup drive.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will be the patron of this year's World Cleanup Day on September 18, 2021. “I am very proud to be the patron of World Cleanup Day. We need to change the way we treat our planet, be more mindful of its resources, and preserve its biodiversity. Everyone and anyone can contribute to this,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
Aligning with Covid-19 restrictions, organizations, companies, and individuals are heading out to clean their communities and natural areas with appropriately sized and socially distanced groups or as individual cleaners.
“To participate in World Cleanup Day, we suggest people rather go to individual cleanups. We also ask everyone to comply with the local government’s guidelines for group gatherings. As an option people in high-risk communities or who feel unwell can participate by doing a digital cleanup instead. This means deleting all unnecessary files from our digital devices. It extends the lifespan of our gadgets and decreases CO2 waste,” added Anneli Ohvril, Executive Director of Let’s Do It World.
World Cleanup Day is organized by Let’s Do It World, which is one of the largest environmental organizations in the World headquartered in Estonia. Let’s Do It World has member organizations with dedicated leaders in 164 countries. The organization was born in Estonia in 2008 when 4 percent of the Estonian population came outside to clean up the country in one day.
The global coordination of World Cleanup Day 2021 is mainly funded by the Government of the Republic of Estonia. Let’s Do It World is an accredited member of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) of UNEP and Conveying Partner of the UN SDG Action Campaign (17–28 Sept).
Let’s Do It World partners with UN-Hbitat, UNESCO, African Union, AIESEC, Earth Day Network, Fridays for Future, Good Deeds Day, JCI, and many others.
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Ingrid Nielsen
Head of Global Communications
ingrid.nielsen@ldiw.org
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