News

During this weekend 25 teams joined the action in 4 countries. "With small-scale, individual and above all coronavirus-proof initiatives along rivers and riverbanks, River Cleanup aims to raise public awareness and make people part of the solution,” says Flora Baan, coordinator of the Hungarian actions of River Cleanup. Cleanups took place in Budapest, Dunaföldvár, Esztergom, Szentendre, Belgrád, Újvidék, Bratislava, Komárom and Marcelháza. In Hungary the action was co-organized with Let’s do it Hungary.

We unite and motivate people to take action and cleanup in or along a river nearby on every first Sunday of the month. So no normal sunday but River Sunday ;)

Brussels, June 7th 2020 - Every year, around 8 billion kilograms of waste end up in our seas and oceans. 80% of that waste is brought there by rivers. To take action to change this, River Cleanup is organising River Cleanup World on Sunday 7 June 2020. With countless small-scale, coronavirus-proof cleaning initiatives all around the world, River Cleanup aims to prove that we can all make a difference, even though no major cleanups are allowed at the moment. Over 320 actions took place in 45 countries along 161 rivers, which make this first edition a huge success!

On March 4th we visited the Elementary School De Wilg in Lint and informed and inspired over 400 children. After sharing the facts & figures on how much pollution we as a society give back to our oceans, every year (8.000.000.000 kg / year) and the impact on wildlife and our health, we show the kids we can all take action ourselves by picking up trash and avoiding our plastic footprint.

During our stay in Indonesia we took the opportunity to visit the very first pilot system of The Ocean Cleanup's Interceptor! The system 001 was the first prototype aimed to cleanup floating trash on its way to our oceans and seas. It was deployed in early 2019 in the Cengkareng Drain in Jakarta.

The Ci Tarum is called one of the most polluted rivers in the world and has soldiers permanently cleaning the river and river banks. 2 cleanups were organised together with World Cleanup Day Indonesia and the local community. The celebration with home made snacks and a local artist performing in Bogor is one to remember!

During our stay in Indonesia we installed our first trashboom with Plastic Fischer. This floating system block plastic from floating into the bigger rivers and ocean. It activated the local community to cleanup and creates awareness on the trash problem. It's a very good fit with our mission at River Cleanup. More news about what we are up to in 2020 soon!