On September 20, Ukraine joined the World Cleanup Day, when residents of more than 20 regions of Ukraine took to the streets, coasts, and forests to collect tons of garbage.
The EcoPolitic team analyzed the information on how the World Cleanup Day was held in a number of Ukrainian cities.
1) On Khortytsia Island in Zaporizhzhia, volunteers collected almost 6 tons of garbage.
More than 150 concerned residents took part in the environmental cleanup on Khortytsia Island in Zaporizhzhia. They collected almost 6 tons of garbage on four hectares of the island's coastal territory: plastic bottles, cans, glass, and even found an ironing board.
Photo: suspilne.media/zaporizhzhia
Although this is the seventh time the island has been cleaned up in the last three years. The area around Roztebina Island has not yet been cleaned up, as it is the territory of the former Kakhovka Reservoir, which was flooded before the dam was blown up.
Photo: suspilne.media/zaporizhzhia
Organized groups of schoolchildren accompanied by teachers participated in the island’s cleanup.
Photo: suspilne.media/zaporizhzhia
2) In Ternopil, almost fifty people joined the cleanup of the Zagrebelle park.
In the city of Ternopil, volunteers cleaned up litter in the Zagreblya Park. For the most part, initiative young people took part in the cleanup.
"The territory of the park is not very big, it's just one forest. There is a lot of different garbage: empty bottles, candy wrappers, plastic bags and wrappers," says Artem Khmura, a participant of the cleanup.
Photo: suspilne.media/ternopil
Students from Ternopil Pedagogical Institute also cleaned the green zone at the intersection of Morozenka and Symonenko Streets.
“Lately, there has been a lot of waste. People do not sort their garbage, which leads to this situation. It is necessary to foster environmental awareness in children from an early age so that they learn to sort garbage and know they should take care of nature,” said a participant in the event.
Within an hour, the students managed to collect 33 garbage bags, each with a capacity of 120 liters.
Photo: suspilne.media/ternopil
3) In Odesa, more than 200 people gathered in Shevchenko Park on World Cleanup Day.
Volunteers, NGOs and local residents joined the event to clean up the garbage. People were given garbage bags and gloves.
For about two hours, the participants cleaned the park from cigarette butts, bottles, paper and other garbage. At the end of the campaign, the organizers promised to draw prizes among the most active participants.
Photo: suspilne.media/odesa
“We strive to make our planet cleaner and support this World Cleanup Day initiative in Ukraine. Cleanliness begins at home, and great changes happen when millions of people unite for a common goal,” said participant Lyudmyla.
Photo: suspilne.media/odesa
4) At the Vinnytsia Botanical Garden, 50 participants joined the campaign on World Cleanup Day.
Specialists from the Department of Municipal Economy and Improvement of the City Council, representatives of businesses, charitable organizations “Skhid SOS,” and concerned residents of Vinnytsia took part in cleaning the area.
Photo: suspilne.media/vinnytsia
The participants cleaned under the slogan “Let’s make Ukraine cleaner together” and managed to collect 47 bags of trash. The garbage was collected by employees of the municipal unitary enterprise “EkoVin.”
Photo: suspilne.media/vinnytsia
5) On September 20, all Kyiv districts held an eco-tidy-up to mark World Cleanup Day.
In particular, about 500 people took part in the cleanup in Hydropark. Representatives of NGOs, condominiums, educational institutions, business representatives, and concerned citizens joined the event.
Photo: suspilne.media/kyiv
“Unfortunately, every year the garbage returns, and every year in the same locations we still have something to clean up,” noted event participant Maryna.
In total, those concerned about the environment in Hydropark collected nearly a full truckload of garbage.
Photo: suspilne.media/kyiv
6) In Mykolaiv, garbage was collected at two locations: along the river bank and in a park.
Participants gathered on World Cleanup Day in Liberation Square and along the coastline from Riviera to Cowboy. Before cleaning up the beach, the participants were given a short mine safety briefing.
Photo: suspilne.media/mykolaiv
“There are mostly empty bottles from alcoholic beverages, cigarette packs, and glass on the beach. It's important for us to volunteer so that people can relax in a clean environment,” said campaign participant Yurii.
More than 300 people joined the campaign in the city, and about 6,000 in the region, according to Mila Yurchenko, coordinator of "Let’s do it Ukraine" in Mykolaiv region. The campaign will run until September 27.
Photo: suspilne.media/mykolaiv
Last year, more than 400 thousand people joined the World Cleanup Day in Ukraine. Data on the number of participants in the current year's campaign will be published later.
We would like to remind EcoPolitic readers that Ukraine hosted the international media center of the World Cleanup Day.
This decision is aimed at drawing the world's attention to environmental challenges and demonstrating the resilience and solidarity of Ukrainians with the global environmental community despite the war. The decision to locate the media center in Ukraine also confirms the solidarity of the world's countries with Ukraine.
