River Cleanup places more than 6,000 volunteers in the spotlight during an appreciation event in Verviers

On Saturday, 16 July, exactly 1 year after the floods in Wallonia, the Belgian NGO River Cleanup thanked all the volunteers who gave the best of themselves last summer to clean up the Vesdre and Ourthe rivers. How? By putting the volunteers literally and figuratively in the spotlight through a photo exhibition in the heart of Verviers. No less than 6278 river warriors and numerous volunteers from other organisations were put in the picture, following more than 100 solidarity clean-ups throughout the year. After the opening of the photo exhibition and the subsequent speeches, everyone rolled up their sleeves once more for a major clean-up campaign.

Raising awareness for a more beautiful world

Every year, about 11 billion kilograms of plastic end up in our seas and oceans. A major part of that waste ends up there via rivers. River Cleanup’s mission is to intercept the plastic before it even arrives there, and to make people worldwide aware of this littering issue, because plastic never decays.

Aid campaigns in Wallonia

In mid-July last year, our country was unexpectedly hit by heavy rainfall, causing unprecedented flooding in southern Belgium. In addition to the clean-up operations that were already scheduled worldwide by River Cleanup, the NGO set up relief campaigns in 19 affected municipalities* along the Vesdre, Ourthe, Hoëgne and Helle rivers, and mobilised more than 6,000 volunteers to remove 197,290 kg of waste from parks and riverbanks. The solidarity was huge, and included volunteers from across the linguistic border.

"During the aid campaigns, we cleaned up all kinds of things, about 1/3rd of this was plastic, but also garden furniture, car tyres, fridges and even licence plates, which gives an indication of the enormous power of the floods", says Wannes Vercauteren, Project Manager Floods at River Cleanup. "The trauma was clearly visible. The victims who came to thank us with tears in their eyes gave us the necessary strength and energy to continue week after week.”

Volunteers in the spotlight

The floods claimed the lives of dozens of people. On Thursday, 14 July and Friday, 15 July, commemorations took place in several affected municipalities in memory of the victims of the disaster. In addition to the commemorations of the victims, the Belgian NGO also wanted to thank all the clean-up heroes of River Cleanup and numerous other organisations**, as well as the many companies, for their hard work after the floods. Thanks to a year of clean-up campaigns by River Cleanup, SPW, the army, Protection Civile, Contrat de Rivière Vesdre, the fire brigade and many other volunteer organisations, the vast majority of the polluted banks and the riverbed of the Vesdre have now been cleaned up. That’s why River Cleanup organised the 'River Solidarity Event’ as an appreciation event, exactly one year after the initial clean-up campaign, with an open-air photo exhibition showing images of the various volunteers in full swing.

True to tradition, the volunteers again rolled up their sleeves, and a huge solidarity clean-up took place with volunteers who had come to Verviers from all over the country. No less than 2000 kg of waste was cleared away by more than hundred volunteers. With this campaign, the work at the Vesdre river is now as good as finished, and there are no more zones to be cleaned up. The focus will therefore be on the Ourthe river as of September. Many campaigns have already taken place there, but there is still a lot of work ahead.

The event was made possible by Bebat, and ended with a dash of live music.

^{*Pepinster, Chênée, Verviers, Trooz, Chaudfontaine, Baelen, Eupen, Theux, Limbourg, Olne, Dison, Esneux, la Roche-en-Ardenne, Durbuy, Rendeux, Hotton, Hamoir, Comblain-la-Tour, Somme-Leuze}

^{**Peddelsport Vlaanderen, Team Eclairs, De Ninoofse Zwerfvuiljagers, Natuurpunt, Het Rode Kruis, Herent Helpt, Be WaPP, Les Petites Fourmis de la Hoëgne, Les Particules Solidaires de la Vesdre, Solidariteams, JCI, Helpende Handen, Vrienden van de Vesder Vallei, Natagora ​}

Watch the video material of the clean-ups following the floods of last year here:

Contact

River Cleanup

Project Manager Floods Belgium & Albania ​
​Wannes Vercauteren
​wannes@river-cleanup.org  ​ ​ ​
​+32 (0)486 71 00 51

River Cleanup Founder
​Thomas de Groote
​thomas@river-cleanup.org  ​ ​ ​
​+32 (0)478 44 46 10

MMBSY

Aurélie Cordier
​PR Manager MMBSY
​aurelie@mmbsy.com
​+32 485 19 28 15