First River Cleanup actions during World Cleanup Day today already great success with more than 3000 participants
With many more actions next week, an estimated 60,000 volunteers will have participated
Antwerp, 19 September 2020 - Today World Cleanup Day took place, the biggest global cleanup action of the year. Millions of people cleaned up waste in more than 170 countries. In Belgium, River Cleanup, Eneco Clean Beach Cup, JCI Belgium, Bewapp and Mooimakers joined forces to mobilize as many volunteers as possible for this initiative. A total of around 10,000 Belgians took part in an action today. River Cleanup mobilized more than 3000 participants around watercourses. Numerous actions will be organized in the coming days so participation is still possible. It is estimated that between World Cleanup Day (19 September) and World Rivers Day (27 September) around 60,000 Belgians will have participated in an action.
Every year around 8 billion kilograms of waste ends up in our seas and oceans. 80% of that waste ends up there through rivers. Belgian non-profit organization River Cleanup wants to make people aware of this problem and encourages them to take action themselves.
Today on World Cleanup Day, River Cleanup organized major actions in Antwerp and Ghent. Antwerp functioned as the main location for the Scheldt. Zuhal Demir, Flemish Minister of Environment and Energy, participated together with 400 volunteers. Kayakers went onto the water to collect waste from the docks.
The River Cleanup action in Ghent attracted about 200 volunteers. Numerous volunteers also registered a cleanup action of their own.
Tomorrow (Sunday 20 September) River Cleanup actions will take place in Leuven and Brussels. About 500 participants are expected to be there. On the occasion of World Rivers Day on September 27th, River Cleanup will organize an action in Liege on Saturday September 26th and one in Namur on Sunday September 27th.
Presumably around 60,000 Belgians will have participated in an action of River Cleanup, Eneco Clean Beach Cup, JCI Belgium, Bewapp or Mooimakers between World Cleanup Day and World Rivers Day.
The actions of River Cleanup are made possible by partners Delhaize, Unilever, B-Better, Love-Beauty-Planet, Eco-Oh, Multimasters Group, Busters, Boma, Persil, Volkswagen and EDI.
About River Cleanup
River Cleanup started in 2017 with a 10-minute clean-up, expanded to 10,000 volunteers in 60 cities along the Rhine in 2018, and 10 rivers with 50,000 participants in 20 countries in 2019. The non-profit organization makes people aware of the littering problem, and activates young and old to take action along rivers. River Cleanup also implements smart technologies to collect floating waste. In addition to cleaning up rivers and river banks, River Cleanup has developed programs for schools and companies to reduce the use of single-use plastic and to make participants part of the solution.
Contact
River Cleanup
Thomas de Groote
thomas@river-cleanup.org
+32 (0)478 44 46 10
MMBSY
Karen Schellekens
karen@mmbsy.com
+32 (0)485 79 92 03