World CleanUp Day United States Information

History’s biggest civic action will start at 10am in New Zealand on the 15th of September this year and will be joined by millions of people from about 150 countries, who aim to clean the world in 36 hours. According to The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), about 4 billion tonnes of solid waste is created in the world, of which 1,6 billion is household waste. 3,5 billion people in the world have no access to recycling facilities and this waste ends up in the nature. It is estimated that hundreds of millions of tonnes of illegal waste reaches our nature and oceans every year. The tradition of a cleanup day started in Estonia 2008 when 50 thousand people cleaned up 10 tonnes of waste. 620 volunteers and more than 500 organisations all contributed to the success of the event. This was followed by similar cleanup actions in Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Portugal, Serbia and many other countries. Nearly 20 million people across the world have participated in a cleanup action inspired by the first event. We now aim to mobilise 150 countries on the same day to start tackling the massive waste problem. There are four steps to our approach: See It! is the first step, which calls people to notice the trash around them and not be blind to it. Map It! is the second step, which makes use of technology through our app. Anyone can mark trash points on the map and we collect the data to be used for more effective waste management. Bag It! will see millions of people come out on the 15th of September and clean in their countries. Learn It! is the final steps, which aims to educate people on waste management and provide information and tools on how to keep the Planet clean.