#NEVERSETTLEBELARUS Republican Cleanup Campaign

During Belarusian Republican Cleanup that took place on October 5th, Coca‑Cola employees and the volunteers gathered about 3 tons of garbage. This Cleanup day was a part of international World Cleanup Day of September 21st

More than 350 participants from 10 cities – this Republican Cleanup took place in all regions of Belarus. This ecological campaign was initiated by Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus which employees took part in Minsk Cleanup. This campaign was supported by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Ministry of Education, as well as the Republican Center for Ecology and Local History.

Alongside with Coca‑Cola employees, students from all Belarus participated in this campaign – from Minsk, Vitebsk, Gomel, Turau, Grodna, Zhodzina, Mazyr, Mahiliou, Liachavichy and Baranavichy. Minsk students from BSUIR, BSMU, BNTU, BSAA and BSU ISEI were active volunteers in Cleanup campaign.

“Participating in this campaign is aimed at raising awareness of students and citizens about ecological problems. By taking part in this campaign we would like to demonstrate that it is not difficult – to make the world a cleaner place, you just need to start with yourself”– explains Alla Zaitseva, one of the participants.

“Our students are always participating in the projects that aim to make a city cleaner. We feel responsible for keeping our places of study or work cleaner. That’s why participating in this campaign is our duty and we want to tell everyone about the problem of waste pollution”, as Ihar Buchenkou comments, ISEI Deputy Director for studies and pedagogical work.

An important point in volunteering this year was the involvement of Coca‑Cola employees in the Cleanup in the Belarus regions – in addition to Minsk, Coca‑Cola employees supported joined volunteer teams in Vitebsk, Mogilev and Turov. Also, traditionally, schoolchildren cleaned the Turovsky Meadow reserve with Andrey Roschupkin, Deputy General Director, Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus.

Before the Cleanup, Coca‑Cola HBC Belarus held a seminar on the issues of separate waste collection. A training event was organized together with the Republican Center for Ecology and Local History. Therefore, on the day of the action, the volunteers did not just collect garbage: they sorted plastic, glass and other waste into separate bags. Because of this approach, the waste was not sent to a landfill, but to the recycling enterprises.

Also, the participants sorted different types of plastic separately: bottles were collected in one bag, and plastic caps in the other. All the collected caps were sent to NGO “Socio Eco Center” for the project “New Life in Exchange for Caps”, which helps people with disabilities. In total, three tons of waste was collected for recycling during the campaign.

According to careful estimates of the organizer of the competition, which is the Republican Center for Ecology and Local History, Baranavichy State University became the winner of the competition! The volunteer team managed to collect 320 kg of plastic and foil waste! The university is also a leader in terms of the total amount of collected garbage - 578 kg!     

2nd place - Belarusian State University of Transport (149.5 kg of collected plastic and foil waste) 3rd place - Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov (89 kg of collected plastic and foil waste).

We also want to note the three leaders who collected the most garbage of all types:

1st place – Baranovichy State University (578 kg)

2nd place –Belarusian State Transport University (289,5 kg)

3rd place – Mozyr state pedagogic university named after I.P.Shamyakin (223,24 kg)

First three teams that collected the most plastic and foil waste, considering specific weight of garbage per 1 participant:

1st place – Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov (~ 11 kg per person)

2nd place – Baranovichy State University (~ 7 kg per person)

3rd place – Gomel State University named after Francisk Skoryna (~ 5,7 kg per person)

World Without Waste is Coca‑Cola's global strategy. This direction is consistent with the goals of sustainable development of the Republic of Belarus, as well as the global goals of sustainable development of the UN. By 2030, the company plans to help collect the equivalent of 100% of the packaging volume of products on the market.