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Why River Cleanup Starts Upstream
Discover how litter travels from streets to rivers, why prevention starts upstream, and how World Cleanup Day helps stop pollution before it reaches our waterways.
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0kg
of plastic
end up in nature and rivers every day! There, they break down into microplastics and enter our food chain.
We're on a global mission to make rivers plastic-free
Empowering
people
Preventing
pollution
Accelerating
change
1000 rivers by 2050
1000 rivers by 2050
World Cleanup Day
Join one of our cleanups in Antwerp, Liège (19/9) or Brussels (20/9), or one of the many other actions happening worldwide!
Our impact
- 8 118
- Events
- 393 693
- Warriors
- 4 257 289
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kg waste
These stats contain Collected & Recovered trash
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Collected= 63 553 kg
Recovered = 4 181 537 kg
Latest news
Discover our latest success stories & actions
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When the Waters Recede, the Waste Remains
First field cleanup operation by the River Cleanup Response Unit following the late-May floods
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4 MILLION KILOGRAMS REMOVED ❗
River Cleanup and its global community have now recovered more than 4 million kilograms of waste from rivers and waterways around the world. This milestone represents years of action.
Indonesian Students Turn Plastic Awareness into Action
We developed global Plastic Clever Schools resources and tested them in 20 Indonesian schools. This collaboration with Common Seas is a milestone for education on plastic pollution.
River Cleanup invites you to “Send Dirty Pics”
We launched a bold new campaign developed together with marketing students from Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences: "Send Dirty Pics"
The plastics industry wants more evidence of harm. The tobacco industry wanted the same.
Opinion piece by Thomas de Groote, founder and CEO of River Cleanup
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As featured in
Awards
Our impact-oriented approach has won several awards!
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With the gracious support of our partners
Learn more about our partners on our partners page. Bellow you can find our Mission Partners.
Keytrade Bank
“Convinced and driven by the mission to stop 10 million kilos of plastic from ending up in rivers every day, we at Keytrade Bank decided to support River Cleanup. Thanks to our partnership, three kilos of plastic will be removed from rivers for every new client at Keytrade Bank. This way, every great customer story already gets off to a fabulous start.” - Thierry Ternier, CEO Keytrade Bank
Naiad Foundation
One of the pillars of our foundation is the protection of the oceans, a crucial resource for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. This is only possible when the oceans are healthy and free of plastic. The strength of River Cleanup lies in their holistic approach through the Clean River Model, which focuses on addressing the underlying causes of river pollution.
Their commitment to making 1,000 rivers plastic-free by 2050 has convinced us to collaborate towards a healthier planet.
SumUp
"At SumUp, we're dedicated to creating a meaningful and lasting impact through our sustainability initiatives. Since 2022, our partnership with River Cleanup has helped remove over 335,000 kg of plastic from the Citarum River in Indonesia, one of the world's most polluted rivers. Year after year, we've scaled our commitment: from 15,000 kg in our first year, to 120,000 kg in 2025, with a target of 225,000 kg in 2026. This partnership is a core part of our environmental pillar and our 1% for the Planet pledge - a commitment to protecting the planet not just for today, but for the future. We continue to focus on reducing plastic waste and supporting on-field education campaigns to raise environmental awareness among local communities." - Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Diversity, Inclusion & Sustainability Partner at SumUp