News

On July 14th and 15th heavy rains afflicted Belgium. In Wallonia, this lead to deadly floods that affected thousands of people and a huge area of nature. River Cleanup took action right away. First by helping people in need and later by organizing bigger actions to help nature. 

Ghent, 19 September 2021 – According to annual custom, River Cleanup, Eneco Clean Beach Cup, Proper Strand Lopers, World Cleanup Day Belgium, Mooimakers and Be WaPP/Wallonie Plus joined forces to mobilize as many clean-up heroes as possible. Their goal? To collect as much waste as possible during the third weekend of September on World Cleanup Day. It is estimated that some 100.000 volunteers made this 4th edition day an overwhelming success.

Brussels, June 6, 2021 - Every year, around 8 billion kilograms of waste end up in our seas and oceans. To change this, River Cleanup organized River Cleanup World on Sunday, June 6, 2021. With countless small-scale, local initiatives worldwide, River Cleanup aims to prove that we all can make a difference. Over 750 actions took place in 45 countries along 160 rivers, making this second edition a huge success.

On June 6th we officially collected our 1.000.000th kg of river waste along one of the most polluted rivers in the world! This is the work of over 120.000 volunteers, starting almost 2000 actions in 45 countries in the past 4 years! We are very thankful and proud for this huge milestone, and are even more motivated to collect more in the coming months and years!

On River Cleanup World, a WFO Trawl was tested together with partner organization Waste Free Oceans and Environment and Food Foundation. Objective is to collect floating debris on the river surface and free the river

A small effort with a major impact

River Cleanup organised a #rivercleanupchallenge last month. Between World Water Day (22 March) and Earth Day (22 April) more than 1000 people enthusiastically rolled up their sleeves to clear waste in the equivalent of 10,000 minutes. Many volunteers joined forces with ministers, mayors, companies, organisations, schools, newspapers, radio stations, celebrities, DJs and festival organisers to make the world a little more ‘plastic free’.

On April 17th our Slovakian Partner Human Health Institute focused on the Danube as part of the Clean Rivers Experience - Clean Danube Experience, in which sportsmen of Kajak & kanoe klub Komárno (the most successful section of speed canoeing in Slovakia) and activists from Hungary, KÖSZ (Kisvárosi Önkéntes Szemétszedők) took part.

Antwerp, January 20, 2021 - The very first River Skimmer in Belgium was officially launched today at Oostkaai in Merksem. The River Skimmer is an initiative of River Cleanup, the Belgian nonprofit organization that raises awareness on plastic pollution along rivers and Multimaster Group. The non-profit mobilizes volunteers to take action and clean up. Many hands make light work, yet a piece of ingenious technology is the perfect complement. With the launch of the River Skimmer, River Cleanup takes an extra step towards eliminating the 8 billion kilograms of plastic that end up in our oceans every year.

River Cleanup launches sustainable year-end gift to clean up 1 million kg of river plastics in 2021
Today, the Belgian non-profit River Cleanup is launching an original end-of-year campaign to support its planned clean-up operations in 2021 at home and abroad. One River Cleanup gift certificate represents 30 kg of river plastics cleaned up in the world's most polluted rivers or in a river near you.

Let’s Do It Kosova in cooperation with the global movement River Cleanup, today carried out a cleanup action on the Istog River, from where more than 100 bags of plastic waste and mixed waste were removed, as well as nine (9) trucks with voluminous waste. This action was also supported by the municipality of Istog.

Thomas de Groote is the initiator of River Cleanup, an organisation dedicated to cleaning up plastic in and along rivers. We asked Thomas nine questions about his vision for sustainability.

A tiny little village called Budmerice located in western Slovakia also joined the international River Cleanup initiative on 27th September 2020.
A simple Facebook event and an invitation broadcasted in the local radio was enough to make 15 volunteers across all ages to show up close to the local river Gidra.

More than 60,000 volunteers participated in actions between World Cleanup Day (19/9) and World Rivers Day (27/9).

Antwerp, 19 September 2020 - Today World Cleanup Day took place, the biggest global cleanup action of the year. Millions of people cleaned up waste in more than 170 countries. In Belgium, River Cleanup, Eneco Clean Beach Cup, JCI Belgium, Bewapp and Mooimakers joined forces to mobilize as many volunteers as possible for this initiative. A total of around 10,000 Belgians took part in an action today. River Cleanup mobilized more than 3000 participants around watercourses.

River Whale successfully launched with Düsseldorf Mayor Thomas Geisel on Tuesday September 8th

On the 29th of August, 31 cleanups took place along the river Volga and its basin, supported by 400 participants and the joint effort of Let’s do it! Russia, Clean Hands Clean Rivers and River Cleanup.

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!