How to cleanup Armenia in one day and start living in a clean country?

^{Official press release by IDeA Foundation}


Armenia joined the global movement: World Cleanup Day will take place in the country for the first time on September 15, it will gather up to 100 000 participants and will start a new tradition

September 15, 2018 is declared as World Cleanup Day. 150 countries have already joined the movement: USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Russia, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Jordan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa , Australia and others. This year Armenia will take part in the initiative!

Thanks to the courage and consistency of many Armenians, today the people of the country have a rare and unique opportunity to decide their own destiny and create better conditions for themselves. In the new Armenia streets and nature cannot be covered with garbage.

How to cleanup Armenia in one day?

10 years ago in 2008 Rainer Nõlvak, an ordinary entrepreneur from Estonia, gathered four friends and suggested that they try to cleanup the whole country from illegal waste. The idea seemed insane, but on May 3, 2008, 50,000 people came to the streets. The action grew into a large volunteer movement, which initially operated only in Estonia, but this year it is aimed to cleanup the entire Earth.

World Cleanup Day Armenia was initiated by a team of volunteers from IDeA Foundation. A number of important partners joined during the first month: Armenia Tree Project, WWF Armenia, Ministry of Nature Protection of the Republic of Armenia.

Every day, new partners join the movement. It is planned that up to 100 000 people will unite all over Armenia to clean the streets and environment of illegal waste. Dilijan Community Center, Re-Apaga, UWC Dilijan, Proper Company, Ameriabank, Triclub Yerevan, Repat Armenia, Aurora Baréalisse Marketing & Branding agency, Sanitek Armenia, Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development of the Republic of Armenia, Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, U.S. Peace Corps, UNDP in Armenia, US Embassy Yerevan Green Team and others.

World Cleanup Day in Armenia differs from the international one as it is not going to be just a one-off event - it will become a starting point to change the approach to waste and to form a new habit of living in a clean country.

What is the plan for September 15 and how to participate?

The World Cleanup Day Armenia team will publish 11 maps, one per region, on the official page of the movement. Each map will be divided into zones, which will be coordinated by a local leader.

Any participant will be able to cleanup his/her backyard or to open a map of his/her area, choose the most convenient zone and go there. The action will begin at 10 am on Saturday and will last for 3 hours. The local leader will tell the participants about the types of waste and recycling options in Armenia, will show the territory and will help along the way. There will be photo and video shooting, participation of celebrities is planned. The local leader will check that the waste is safely collected.

A large-scale advertising campaign of World Cleanup Day Armenia will begin on August 15. The final video about the initiative will be distributed through international media to show the results in Armenia to the whole world.

What is planned apart from the cleanup?

To date, data on waste in the country is fragmentary, therefore, studies to determine the current state of the environment will be carried-out to form the foundation for a long-term project.

Within the framework of the educational program of the initiative, together with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, schools will receive lectures on ways to protect the environment and daily habits that reduce the ecological footprint. A number of online and offline campaigns will be held in the regions of Armenia to draw attention to the problem of waste and to show the ways to solve it.

The team of the movement plans to work with local and international organizations so that in a year each of us could look around, be surprised and say: "Hasn’t our country always been so clean?"

"Starting on Monday" never works, so we in Armenia will start the habit on Saturday, September 15, on the World Cleanup Day.

How to get involved?

World Cleanup Day is a volunteer movement that anyone can join. Within the next month you can become one of the core partners of the movement in Armenia. Join, if you want to live in a beautiful and clean country! Now wanted:

●        Local leaders

●        Communities and networks to share the information

●        Photographers and videographers

●        Restaurant owners and managers

●        Media partners

●        Financial supporters

As a gratitude for the partners' contribution, the organizers will build a large temporary art installation made of plastic with the names of all those who participated and will install it in the center of Yerevan. This will be accompanied by a vivid campaign in the media and social networks.

The restaurants of Yerevan, which have joined the movement, will offer a free dinner for two for the local leaders as a tribute to their participation. The participation has already been confirmed by The Club, InVino, Tapastan and others.