16 countries involved a total of over 2,2 million people in nation-wide Lets Do It! cleanup actions. These massive cleanups, that took place from March to May, aimed to tackle the global waste problem by engaging a big part of the society in real actions.
People learn best by doing, not by being told. This is why we stand for massiveness, because setting an example and getting your hands a bit dirty is essential to change some negative patterns in the society. Lets Do It! doesnt have a narrow target group and we dont focus in children or young people we are convinced that the problem can only be solved when all social and age groups become a part of it, commentedKadi Kenk, the Head of Coordinators of Lets Do It! World.
According to Kenk, Lets Do It! is not like any other waste cleanup: Its not only about educating, its about actually getting rid of illegal waste. And we dont promote simply cleaning, we promote cleaning it up the whole country and in just one day, she added.
Countries like Malta, Czech Republic, Croatia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus, Greece, Estonia, Sweden, Turkey, Italy, Hungary, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo had their cleanup actions covering the whole country. Additionally, regional cleanups also took place in Albania, Finland, the United States and in Romania.Albaniascoastal cleanup action that was organised in the framework of the Mediterranean cleanup campaign Lets Do It! Mediterranean involved almost 50,000 participants, including media, politicians and celebrities.
Despite the war going on inUkraine,the civic activistspulled off the most successful cleanup campaign in the country. At least 500,000 volunteers united in 2832 locations on April 25th, exceeding the hopes of the organisers who didnt managed to register half a million participants, but admit that the actual number must have been higher.
Ukrainians need to feel united and distract their minds from the terror and sorrow going on in our country right now. Even in warzones like the Donetsk region, 17,000 people took part in cleanups and we consider it very impressive,Iuliia Markhel, Head of Lets Do It! Ukraine admitted.
The annual country-wide cleanup was held inLithuaniaalso on the 25thof April, with 250,000 volunteers. Because the action is already a tradition, six times less illegal waste was collected than in the first years. The amount of waste collected from all over the country was less than 2000 tonnes. The Northern neighbourLatviahad an action on the same day and it united 175,000 volunteers.
Latvians are inspired by such large-scale civic actions and like the feeling of being united for a good cause. We are moving towards a country-wide no-litter policy in order to concentrate on improving the environment in the future,Evija Grinmane, representative of Lets Do It! Latvia commented.
The Lets Do It! movement began in Estonia in 2008 when 50,000 people came together and cleaned up their entire country in five hours, removing 10,000 tonnes of waste. Today, Lets Do It! is a global network of 112 countries, having engaged ca 13 million participants.
The countries participating in Lets Do It! actionscan be seen here:www.letsdoitworld.org/countriesandupcoming cleanup dates can be seen here:www.letsdoitworld.org/cleanup_dates_2015.Photos of different cleanup events can be found here:mediabank.letsdoitworld.org.
Lets Do It! World Cleanup 2015 issupported bybytheEstonian Ministry of Foreign Affairsfrom theDevelopment Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid fund,the Estonian Ministry of the Environment, the Open Estonia Foundation, Skype, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, QlikView, Tallink Group, DHL Estonia, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Estonian Air, Interlex Translations, Meedius Estonia, Sendsmaily and EuroPark Estonia.
More information:
Meelika Hirmo
Lets Do It! World Cleanup 2015
Head of Public Relations & Communication
Phone: +372 504 1258
E-mail: [emailprotected]
Webpage: www.letsdoitworld.org
Facebook: facebook.com/letsdoitworld
Twitter: twitter.com/letsdoitworld
Youtube: youtube.com/letsdoitworld