387 actions registered in Italy, 4,600 actions across Europe. Let's Clean Up Europe 2017, another successful edition in the fight against littering.
Another success for Let's Clean Up Europe, the European campaign against the abandonment of waste, also known as littering. In Italy, with an overall participation of more than 320,000 people, 387 actions were carried out, marking an increase on the previous year.
The 2017 edition is a "spring clean". Indeed, this year it is possible to carry out actions throughout the spring period, from 1 March to 30 June. The focus of the actions is concentrated during the central weekend, namely the weekend closest to 9 May (Europe Day), which this year falls on the dates between 12 and 14 May. During the central weekend, 120 clean-up actions in total were carried out, recording significant participation from the various categories involved.
Furthermore, for the third year running, a central Italian action was organised: the race against waste Keep Clean and Run, which saw eco-runner Roberto Cavallo – accompanied by numerous other sports ambassadors of national renown – cover more than 350 kilometres of roads and paths through Campania, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily, carrying out clean-up actions along the route to collect abandoned waste. The Keep Clean and Run event alone made it possible to collect 206 kilograms of waste abandoned along the route and 15,210 kilograms of waste during the more than 30 clean-up actions that accompanied the race.
Overall in Italy, the highest number of actions was proposed by businesses (48 per cent), followed by public administrations (24 per cent) and schools (14 per cent). At national level, the most virtuous regions — that is, those that proposed the greatest number of actions — were Piedmont, Lazio, Calabria and Sicily.
All participants commit not only to taking concrete extraordinary clean-up actions by collecting waste that has accumulated in oceans, seas, rivers, beaches and parks, but also to raising awareness of the problem of waste abandonment. To give visibility to all the initiatives, participants can send images or videos of the actions via social networks too: Let's Clean Up Europe is on Twitter and Facebook, with the hashtag #cleanupeurope.
The Let's Clean Up Europe campaign is promoted simultaneously across Europe, thanks to the coordination of Aica (Associazione internazionale per la comunicazione ambientale) on behalf of the Italian promoting committee (composed of the Ministry of the Environment, Land and Sea Protection, Utilitalia, Anci, the Metropolitan City of Turin, the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, Legambiente, Aica) and supported by various national coordinators. In total, more than 4,600 actions were registered across 21 countries, including some non-European countries such as Benin, Turkey, Tunisia and the Faroe Islands, to name but a few.
The initiative is made possible thanks to the support of Conai, Cial, Comieco, Corepla, Coreve, Ricrea and Rilegno.
