site.btaOver 300,000 Volunteers Join Nation-wide Cleanup, Collect 4,000+ Tons of Litter

As many as 6,092 polluted areas and unregulated dumps were cleaned up across the country in this year's edition of bTV's annual campaign titled Let's Clean Up Bulgaria Together, which took place on September 16, bTV said Monday. They figures of the main partner of the initiative, the Environment Ministry, showing that this year's edition has been the largest in scale and territorial scope so far. The campaign attracted over 300,000 volunteers and they collected more than 4,000 t of litter.

That was the 11th edition of the clean-up.

The previous record was set in 2019, when the number of areas cleaned was 5156.

The number of unauthorized dumpsites that were removed in 2023 was 512 (100 more than in 2022). Areas restored and improved this year were 213.

Children were the focus of the 2023 initiative. A total of 596 kindergartens and schools participated in the campaign (up from 575 in 2022).Thousands of children, together with their parents, teachers, friends, sports and interest clubs, came out to help make Bulgaria cleaner. At many places the clean-up day ended with special festive events, bTV reports.

According to the Environment Ministry, the amount of garbage removed was over 4,340 tonnes as landfills still accept waste from the day of the campaign.

The number of registered volunteers was 301,780 (up from 280,000 in 2022) plus many more unregistered. The number of organizations and NGOs that in 2023 signed up with most of their staff, was close to 350.