Over 200 participants join River Cleanup actions in Liège and Namur

September 27, 2020

Namur - Liège, 28 September 2020 - Last weekend River Cleanup organized important cleanup actions in Liège and Namur in collaboration with Rotary Club Liège, JCI Liège, Patagonia, Contrats de Rivières and Wallonie Plus Propre. No less than 200 participants took part in the cleanup actions on and along the river Meuse.. These actions were organized as part of the World Rivers Day on September 27th. Actions had already taken place in Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels and Leuven on 19 and 20 September on the occasion of World Cleanup Day, the largest global cleanup of the year. River Cleanup, Eneco Clean Beach Cup, JCI Belgium, Bewapp and Mooimakers joined forces to mobilize a maximum number of volunteers for a cleanup action between World Cleanup Day (September 19) and World Rivers Day (September 27). No less than 60,000 Belgians took part in the action.

Every year, some 8 billion kilograms of waste end up in our seas and oceans. 80% comes there over rivers. The Belgian non-profit organization River Cleanup wants to make people aware of this problem and encourage them to take action themselves.

Last weekend, River Cleanup organized large-scale actions in Liege and Namur, where around 200 volunteers were involved in cleaning up river banks. In addition, many people had also signed up for an individual clean-up action. 

Between World Cleanup Day (September 19) and World Rivers Day (September 27), some 60,000 Belgians took part in an action organized by River Cleanup, Eneco Clean Beach Cup, JCI Belgium, Bewapp or Mooimakers.

"We are very happy to see that despite the coronavirus, we were able to count on an impressive number of Belgians who are committed to our environment. In addition, we have noticed that a particularly large number of families with young children have also participated, which of course we think is fantastic, as it creates awareness of the issue from a very early age," said Thomas de Groote, founder of River Cleanup.