WORLD CLEANUP DAY 2023 KICK-OFF EVENT AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

World Cleanup Day 2023 kick-off event at the European Parliament on June 6th focused on circular economy and the role of civil society movements and individual action in promoting responsible resource use. Notable speakers included Roberta Metsola (President of the European Parliament), Marion Walsmann (Member of the European Parliament), Holger Holland (EU Climate Pact Ambassador and European Director of Let's Do It World), and Heidi Solba (Let's Do It World President and Head of Global Network).

The global civil society action, World Cleanup Day, takes place annually on the third Saturday in September. It is the largest bottom-up citizen movement in the world dedicated to eliminating environmental pollution and plastic waste. Every year, millions of people in 191 countries clean up streets, parks, beaches, forests, rivers, shores, and our seas of carelessly discarded waste and plastic rubbish. The campaign has seen tremendous success, with over 15 million participants from more than 190 countries participating in last year's cleanup.

For this year's World Cleanup Day, taking place September 16th, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, is once again assuming the patronage “Days like the World Cleanup Day show us that we need to do something to improve our environment. I thank the Let's Do It World initiative for their commitment and will continue to strive for the European Parliament to continue working with you and your colleagues around the world,” noted Metsola.

“The waste is the symptom, a cruel result of our lifestyle, which shall be designed out from the circle. World Cleanup Day is creating the societal shift and boosting the cross sectoral cooperation toward the solutions. Our leaders at the Brussels meeting were excited to see the ongoing collaboration, as well strong support for the World Cleanup Day becoming listed at the UN official calendar,” marked Solba, President and Head of the Global Network at Let's Do It World, organiser of the World Cleanup Day.

The citizens of Europe have committed themselves to a clean, healthy, and plastic-free world. In 2022, Europe made an impressive statement with almost 2.4M participants, over 32 000 events with more than 10 000 municipalities engaged at the World Cleanup Day. "We appeal to the people in Europe and all over the world to support the World Cleanup Day on 16th of September through their commitment," said Holger Holland, EU Climate Pact Ambassador and World Cleanup Day European Regional Director.

Leaders from 27 countries involved in the World Cleanup Day (WCD) movement attended the Brussels kick-off event, joining the European Parliament President in encouraging participation in this year's WCD. A panel discussion featuring the leaders explored the role of the EU Climate Pact within the European Green Deal framework and the potential for collaboration between the WCD movement, the EU, and other global regions. The discussion emphasized the collective efforts needed to address environmental challenges and to promote a cleaner and more sustainable future, highlighting the vital contributions of civil society movements in driving policy changes, raising awareness, and mobilizing citizens to act.

1News.org is your source for news about the environment and the organizations in the Environmental Alliance. We are an all-volunteer organization dedicated to bringing individuals and organizations together with the shared mission to encourage a clean outdoors. We’re growing because of giving individuals that recognize the positive aspects of our mission. What can you do? Help out by taking ONE action. For example, the Adopt One Place concept is to take an area and do a cleanup, lite maintenance, beautification once per week for eight weeks. Take no more than 30 minutes each time and then do touchup to YOUR PLACE every month or two after that. If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.