400 Brussels volunteers remove waste from the canal on World Cleanup Day

About four hundred Brussels residents participated in a large-scale cleanup of the Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal on Friday morning, as part of World Cleanup Day. Worldwide, volunteers are taking part in similar actions in thirty countries. Additional clean-up actions will take place in the weekend in amongst others Antwerp, Liège, Ghent, Namur and Temse.

The World Cleanup Day actions are organised by River Cleanup, a global network organisation to clean up rivers. “Such a day remains very necessary. Despite the many initiatives, pollution continues to increase and some 10 million kilos of plastic end up in our nature and rivers every day,” stated the organisation.

World Cleanup Day in Belgium was kicked off on Friday morning in Brussels, where about four hundred volunteers joined schoolchildren, employees of local businesses and citizens on the Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal for a thorough cleanup. Apart from the cleanup on the quay and surrounding streets, canoes were also deployed on the canal itself to remove waste from the water.

This kick-off is just the start of a much larger initiative. Throughout the weekend, River Cleanup hopes to mobilise more than a thousand volunteers to take part in five major cleanups across Belgium – in Antwerp, Liège, Ghent, Namur and Temse – and in more local, smaller actions.

River Cleanup is also organising major cleanups in thirty other countries. “With our actions, we want to make people aware of their own impact,” declared Thomas De Groote, founder of River Cleanup. “Avoiding disposable plastic is the best way to keep nature free [from litter] and prevent a negative impact on our health.”

^{Cleanup of the canal in Brussels, as part of World Cleanup Day, Friday 20 September 2024 © BELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER + © BELGA VIDEO TIMON RAMBOER}