World Cleanup Day: a key educational

September 16, 2023 - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: World Cleanup Day is the biggest citizen action for a world without waste. To date, this event has brought together more than 60 million volunteers in 191 countries, tackling the issue of waste, to build a waste-free world.

Since 2018, Nipe Fagio has been the lead organization for Let’s Do It and the World Cleanup Day in Tanzania. The day is important to raise global awareness of our environmental goals and engage our communities to act.

Speaking yesterday at one of the cleanup sites in Dar es Salaam, Selander Beach, Nipe Fagio Executive Director and Director of Global Plastics Program at Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Ana Rocha said this year they are marking World Cleanup Day by cleaning and collecting waste data in 22 cleanup sites, 8 sites in Dar es Salaam and 14 in the other regions of the country. The marking of this year’s World Cleanup Day goes together with the celebration of Nipe Fagio’s 10th Anniversary. 

“We’re all so excited that today we celebrated the World Cleanup Day 2023. As usual, by organizing massive cleanups together with more than 50 registered partners and collaborators across the country, we move towards our main goal of collecting waste data by conducting waste and brand audits. Every year we release an annual data report that is shared with various key stakeholders and policymakers to support data-driven decision-making in waste mismanagement. In 2023, the report will also include our analysis of 10 years of data collection” Ana said. 

 Ana added: “We are also proud that in the 10 years of Nipe Fagio, with our Data/Policy/Action strategy, we have significantly contributed to Tanzania’s waste and environmental sectors. Through various programs like Zero Waste, Waste Pickers Recognition, Marine Litter Monitoring, and others we will continue to push systemic change in the country.”

She reiterated that the World Cleanup Day is much more than a cleanup day. It has the intention to raise awareness and create connections that will eventually enable a Zero Waste world.