''Let's Clean Slovenia in One Day!'' (; OSVED!) was a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n environmental volunteer project organized by the environmental organization

Ecologists Without Borders Ecologists Without Borders Association () is a non-profit environmentalist organization founded in March 2009 in Slovenia with the intent of organizing environmental projects. The organization has its headquarters in Ljubljana, with members spread ...

on 17 April 2010. Its goal was carrying out the largest environmental act in the history of Slovenia by joining 200,000 volunteers which would remove at least 20,000 tons of

municipal waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, a ...

from illegal

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

s in the country. Cleaning of scattered garbage in urban areas was also organized. The project was inspired by the

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n campaign ''

Let's Do It 2008 Let's do it 2008 () was a large campaign on 3 May 2008, to activate civic society in Estonia in an effort to cleanup the country from litter. It was organized by Let's Do It! World. Preparation The litter pickup spots were marked by volunteers ...

''. In the months before the event, momentum was built up by various promotional and organizational activities. A large-scale inventory of illegal landfills was performed with the help of Slovene mapping service Geopedia. 115,000 such landfills were registered, containing an estimated of waste. In this phase, several other organizations joined the effort, such as the Administration for Civic Protection and Disaster Relief, Department of Geography at the

Faculty of Arts A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

(

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

) and others. Around 300 members of the

Slovenian Armed Forces The Slovenian Armed Forces or Slovenian Army (SAF; ; 'SV'' are the armed forces of Slovenia. Since 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army. The Commander-in-Chief of the SAF is the President of the Republic of Slovenia, ...

participated in the experimental cleanup a week before the main event to sort out logistical problems. According to official data, around 105,000 people from all Slovene municipalities applied by the end of initial period of registration on 10 April, which was later extended to until the day of the event. Removal of of waste was planned; the remaining content of the inventoried landfills was

hazardous waste Hazardous waste is waste that must be handled properly to avoid damaging human health or the environment. Waste can be hazardous because it is Toxicity, toxic, Chemical reaction, reacts violently with other chemicals, or is Corrosion, corrosive, ...

demolition waste Demolition waste is waste debris from destruction of buildings, roads, bridges, or other structures. Debris varies in composition, but the major components, by weight, in the US include concrete, wood products, asphalt shingles, brick and clay ...

. Such waste was not to be cleaned, only noted for informing the officials. On the day of the event, around 270,000 volunteers, or more than 13% of the Slovenian population participated, making ''Let's Clean Slovenia in One Day!'' the largest civic initiative in the history of independent Slovenia and setting the world record. They removed , or 12,000 tons of waste from 7000 landfills. For this achievement, Ecologists Without Borders were awarded the

Order of Merit of Slovenia Orders, decorations, and medals () are awarded to Slovenes, Slovenian citizens who do great deeds for, or on behalf of, the country. Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia The Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia () is a decoration ...

by the president

Danilo Türk Danilo Türk (; born 19 February 1952) is a Slovenian diplomat, professor of international law, human rights expert, and political figure who served as President of Slovenia from 2007 to 2012. He was the first Slovene ambassador to the United Nat ...

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.ocistimo.si Environmentalism in Slovenia 2010 in Slovenia April 2010 in Europe Volunteering in Slovenia

See also

References

External links