On 20 September, marks International World Cleanup Day, which has been an official United Nations observance for the third consecutive year. This year’s World Cleanup Day focuses on reducing food waste and raising awareness.
The Embassy team decided to join the cleanup in Kyiv, organized by the movement Let’s do it, Ukraine. This year, the event in Kyiv was interrupted by an air raid alert, yet the participants still managed to contribute to a cleaner environment.
An initiative that began in Estonia has, in less than two decades, grown into a global movement bringing together more than 100 million people with the shared goal of creating a cleaner environment.
World Cleanup Day traces its origins to the first nationwide Teeme ära! clean-up campaign held in Estonia in 2008. Since 2018, more than 139 million people from 211 countries and territories have taken part in World Cleanup Day initiatives, collecting over 870,000 tonnes of waste. In 2023, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated 20 September as World Cleanup Day. The global headquarters of the movement, the NGO Let’s Do It World, is based in Estonia.