Every year, millions of tons of litter pollute our seas, oceans, beaches, rivers, forests and other natural areas. According to HELMEPA, this is primarily due to the lack of a environmental awareness among the general public, which continues to follow unsustainable production and consumption patterns under poor waste management strategies.
For the first time this year and with the motto “Let’s Cleanup Europe” the European Commission is instituting 10th May as European Cleanup Day, with the aim to increase visibility of the important problem of littering and the need to prevent environmental pollution.
In coordinating this European initiative throughout Greece, the Hellenic Μarine Εnvironment Protection Association-HELMEPA invites us all, young and old, to join together on 10th May to demonstrate our sensitivity towards the environment by independently taking the intitiative to clean a nearby beach, the banks of a river or lake, parts of the seabed, a forest area, a park or any other place where there is garbage in our neighborhood.
Students, parents, teachers, Port Authorities, Municipal and Regional Authorities, companies, embassies, environmental organisations, mountaineering and nature conservation societies, scuba-diving clubs, seafarers, sailing clubs, local associations, volunteer groups and anyone else wishing to honor the natural environment within which we live can register their participation now.
Interested parties and individuals may visit HELMEPA’s Facebook page and Cadets website. There they will find the Participation Form, which they must complete and return to HELMEPA, as well as Guidelines concerning the organisation of the cleanup, a special Data Card to record litter collected and other informative material to support their activity.
For those who are really keen, recyclable materials may be collected separately to then be taken to recycling plants in cooperation with the Hellenic Recovery-Recycling Corporation (HE.R.R.Co.).
HELMEPA will process the information from the Data Cards and publish the results in a bid to add to a better understanding the issue and help address it more effectively.
So let us all give a helping hand in cleaning-up our environs to show how each of us can individually actively improve the quality of life and our daily routine!
