Cleanup campaign was held in the cities of Belarus

On September 26, in partnership with Coca-Cola HBC Belarus, the country hosted a republican Cleanup – a day when students from different regions of the country decided to cleanse their cities of waste. More than 100 volunteers from seven universities and colleges across the country took part in the eco campaign. The Republican Cleanup Day continues the international initiative World Cleanup Day*, which annually unites people from different countries for a massive waste collection.

In total, the participants of the Cleanup campaign managed to collect 1.4 tons of waste, including over 300 kg of PET containers. During the cleaning process, the volunteers collected waste, sorting it by type of waste, so that it could go directly to processing plants later. There were four types of waste: "Plastic and Plastic wrap", "Glass", "PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate)" and "Other Waste". It is worth noting that the plastic closures were collected separately and transferred to the social and environmental project called "New Life in Exchange for Bottle Caps".

The clean-up of parks and coastal zones brought together students and professors of International Sakharov Environmental Institute of BSU, Yanka Kupala State University of Grodno, MSPU named after I.P. Shamyakin, Branch of BNTU "Zhodino State Polytechnic College", VSU named after P.M. Masherov, BSUT, GSCA named after N.F. Sokolovsky. They were also joined by employees of Coca-Cola HBC Belarus.

Students of International Sakharov Environmental Institute of BSU cleaned-up the territory of the Minsk subdistrict Sosny. In Minsk the cleanup event was attended by Maxim Tarasov: a consultant of the Waste Management Department of the Main Department for Waste Management, Biological and Landscape Diversity of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus. He emphasized the special importance of clean-up actions for the city's ecosystem.

The environmental campaign was implemented by the Republican Center for Ecology and Local History in partnership with Coca-Cola in Belarus. It was supported by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus. Partner organizations’ employees also took part in the clean-up.

Coca-Cola HBC Belarus has been hosting waste collection activities in Belarus since 2009 and the republican Cleanup campaigns have been held for the fifth year in a row. This year, the organizers decided to detail the types of plastic waste and identified "PET" as a separate category.

At the end of the cleanup, each group weighed the garbage bags. To define the winners of the campaign, the organizers introduced a waste collection rate. It was calculated by dividing the mass of collected waste by the number of group members. The winner of the Cleanup campaign "We care" was the team "Ecosphere" of Belarusian State University of Transport, which also received a special prize from Coca-Cola HBC Belarus for the highest rate of collected PET packages.

“World Without Waste” is the global strategy of the Coca-Cola System. This vision reflects the sustainability goals of the Republic of Belarus together with the global sustainability goals of the United Nations. By the year of 2030, the company aims to collect the 100% of the packaging volume of products placed on the market.

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World Cleanup Day is one of the largest social movements of our time. On a certain day, volunteers gather worldwide to rid the earth of garbage and collect rubbish on beaches, near rivers, in forests and on streets. This year, World Cleanup Day brought together volunteers from 180 countries.