"Let’s Do It Cyprus" - 26th April

‘Let’s Do It Cyprus’ is part of the worldwide campaign, ‘Let’s Do it World’, which shall be taking place again this year on April 26.

The innovative campaign which encourages countries to clean up the waste that is dumped in the countryside causing environmental pollution will not only join communities together but hopefully in a long term will help “To keep Cyprus clean forever”.

The aim of the campaign is to spread public awareness on issues related to the protection, preservation and sustainable management of the countryside and seas along with cleaning the litter living amongst us.

Stavriana Nathanail, volunteer coordinator told The Cyprus Weekly: “Not only does the campaign want to clean Cyprus of waste but it also wants to raise awareness of recycling and environment protection for the long term.”

She added that: “With education ‘Let’s Do it Cyprus’, hopes that in the next few years we will no longer have to conduct such major clean ups as Cyprus will be litter free for good.”

‘Let’s Do it World,’ was first started in Estonia, a small northern European country, in 2008 when 50 000 people gathered to clean up the entire country in just five hours.

The campaign was such a great success that other countries took suit and followed to rid pollution in their countries.

The first participation of Cyprus in this global movement was on September 29, 2012, where some 4,000 volunteers cleaned up over 150 points in the countryside. Encouragingly during the campaigns of 2012 and 2014 some 14,000 volunteers took part.

Local Municipalities, the public, volunteer organisations and members of the government are all being urged to join in cleaning up the rubbish, hoping to dispose of the litter in just one day.

Last year a record 10 000 volunteers participated. ‘Let’s Do It Cyprus’ wants to break this record this year.

Unfortunately Cyprus does not only have an issue with fly tipping but in turn is shockingly top of the list in Europe for waste production, with every resident producing 2 pounds of rubbish a day.

“Cyprus is first in the position on the per capita production of waste in the EU” said Ioanna Panayiotou, the Environment Commissioner.

The organisation is hoping to rake in more volunteers into cleaning up Cyprus so it’s known as a clean and environmentally sound country not just for residents but for tourists as well so that it has a good reputation to be proud of.

Source: in-cyprus