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The movement for a clean planet. That’s how the ambitious World Cleanup Day announces itself on the organization’s official website and with good reason. On Saturday, September 17th, just last weekend, millions of volunteers, governments and organizations in no less than 191 countries around the world joined hands to tackle the growing global waste problem. The goal? To build a new and more sustainable world for people all over the planet.
As a region with a considerable focus on sustainability and preservation of its wonderful yet fragile natural environment, the Caribbean Netherlands were enthusiastic participants during the World Cleanup Day 2022. On the island of Curaçao alone, more than 3.400 volunteers turned up at 150 locations to collect litter and work on a cleaner local environment. Bottle by bottle, plastic bag by plastic bag.
Curaçao Clean Up leading the way
This year was the fifth consecutive year in which the people of Curaçao were asked actively participating in World Cleanup Day. Local initiation and coordination were the result of Curaçao Clean Up’s efforts, the local foundation aimed at not just collecting litter and eliminating illegal thrash sites, but at providing education on sustainability and raising awareness in that regard. Considering the fact that no less than 3.400 volunteers participated this year, we can safely conclude that the foundation’s efforts are having an impact on the island (note that Curaçao’s total number of inhabitants currently sits around 155.000). Over the coming days, the organization will publish how many kilos of waste were collected in total on Saturday.
As part of its 10th anniversary, Curaçao Clean Up created a simple plan of action for all volunteers who were considering participating in last weekend’s World Cleanup Day.
- Find the dirtiest spot in your neighborhood.
- Make a team (with other interested volunteers, local companies, etc…).
- Register (with the organization) and receive the necessary materials (to turn your participation into the biggest success possible).
On land and at sea
As part of the previously mentioned 3.400+ volunteers who turned up to make the island of Curaçao a bit of a better place to live during World Cleanup Day, there were also more than 150 divers active. They assembled at 14 different locations to spend the entire day collecting underwater waste, which resulted in about 1.200 kilograms of waste being removed from the beautiful waters of Curaçao. Most of the waste consisted of fishing lines, while a lot of heavier plastic waste was collected as well. Overall, Curaçao Clean Up collected a staggering 3,2 million kilos of litter and waste over the past nine years, both on land and at sea. This only reinforces the importance of such organizations and the need for much more awareness in regard to the devastating effects of waste on the local environment.
The basis for this article was originally published on www.antilliaansdagblad.com and others in September 2022.
