On Friday 19 September - the day before World Clean Up Day - Amsterdam was not coloured orange, but red. No party hats or free markets this time, but thousands of red rubbish bags. Some fifteen thousand Amsterdammers took to the streets with a pick in their hand and a roll of rubbish bags under their arm to clean up their neighbourhood. Because it was CleansDay: the only street party in Amsterdam that collects rubbish instead of leaving it behind. And Saskia was there!
Participating in CleansDay in Amsterdam
In partnership with Verpact
It started with a simple call on LinkedIn from an Amsterdam resident who was annoyed by all the litter in the city: ‘Clean your own pavement.’ And that was picked up. The action was widely supported by residents, entrepreneurs and organisations from all parts of the city. In the week preceding CleansDay, you could pick up a pricker, rubbish bags and a rubbish ring at various locations in the city. But even on the day itself, you could still collect items at the pick-up locations indicated on the website. At 15:00, the official starting signal was given by Mayor Femke Halsema and pinning could take place.
I myself walked through Amsterdam-East with my own pricker and met active local residents - including people who already prick regularly apart from this day. Well done! I briefly joined a group holding a clean-up competition between colleagues. Whoever collected the most litter won! I think I was in the winning team, because besides hundreds of cigarette butts and lots of plastic rubbish, we found a gas cooker and a bicycle wheel. A map showed exactly where rubbish could be handed in. I handed in my bag at a cargo bike on Sarphatistraat, and a little further on was a big truck from takeaway.nl. Super fun to get moving together like this for a cleaner city!
Cleaning up litter? Quite an organisation
Such a massive clean-up operation requires good preparation. Because it requires quite a lot of stuff: thousands of grabbers and rings so that every district can participate, some three hundred thousand red rubbish bags in total and a lot of logistics. FYI: there are no underground containers in many places in Amsterdam, so Verpact jumped in to help with collection and processing. Because even litter - if you separate it a bit neatly - can still be recycled just fine!
CleansDay was not meant to be a one-off event. That's why you were allowed to take home the waste grab and rings afterwards. And Verpact's promotion teams encouraged residents to do the same. So that you don't just walk around your neighbourhood today, but also tomorrow and next week. CleansDay aims to grow into a year-round movement that encourages people to look at their surroundings. Because no matter how small it seems - a picked-up can or a full bag - together, all those actions make a big difference.
More waste tips
- Also see: Ideas for collecting your deposits neatly and smartly at home.
- Also see: from gft to compost? We followed the green clicker!
- Also see: This is how easy it is to get deposit refunds at festivals!
Photo credits: thegreenlist.nl.
