September 21st was World Cleanup Day and 20 million people in 179 countries joined forces to make their beaches, streets, forests and parks a little cleaner. This annual day is organized by NGO Let’s Do It World and aims to raise awareness of waste polluting our planet and give everyone a chance to help create a better, healthier and safer environment. We participated early this year, on September 19, as we organized a post-work cleanup session in our neighbourhood. With equipment provided by the municipality of Amsterdam, we felt well prepared for this cleanup adventure!

We managed to fill quite a few bags and gained insight into the type of garbage that ends up in our environment. Especially around the restaurants and supermarket, we found many cigarette butts, candy wrappers and cans. We also collected some mysterious types of garbage around a construction site and discussed its impact with a neighbouring restaurant owner. It wasn’t all serious reflection though, we also had fun coming up with theories on how the socks and police ribbons ended up in the bushes!

As reported by Let’s Do It World, there were also interesting findings in other countries. In Sri Lanka, 250 kg of plastic and 15 kg of flip-flops were cleaned from just one beach. And several toilets, fridges and other household appliances were discovered in the waters of Cyprus, Curaçao and Maldives, where underwater cleanups took place. Some people took part through plogging – picking up trash while jogging, including crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. And cleanups continued despite earthquakes in Albania and wildfires in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

The cleanup for next year has already been planned on the 19th of September 2020. We’re planning to join in even bigger numbers! Will you join too?