The Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund behind historic UN day

“We are honoured and proud to have been chosen to host the world’s first cleanup day, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge, experience and results with the world,” says Cecilie Lind, CEO of The Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund.

The purpose of the event is to demonstrate the need for joint action to protect our planet from waste and plastic pollution, with the aim of engaging people around the world in voluntary cleanup activities.

World Cleanup Day was established by the UN General Assembly in December 2023, and from this year onwards will be held annually on 20 September. This year’s event is organised by the UN Human Settlements Programme, GRID-Arendal, and The Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund.

The launch has been added to Tromsø and will focus on the theme of “Arctic cities and marine litter”, in line with the important efforts to protect vulnerable and remote ecosystems from pollution.

“We hope to inspire and enable other countries to establish our model for nationwide professional cleanup initiatives, such as our ‘Cleanup Norway in Time’ initiative,” says Lind.

Cleanup Norway in Time is the world’s largest professional cleanup initiative, where the fee on plastic bags finances professional cleanup operators who deliver concrete and measurable cleanup results, while findings are systematised and researched to make cleanup efforts more effective. Between 2020 and 2024, Cleanup Norway in Time cleared plastic from as much as 40 per cent of Norway’s coastline, and aims to reach 55 per cent by 2025. The results are remarkable, with almost 24,000 km of coastline cleaned and more than three million kilos of plastic and waste removed from nature.

The role of the UN Human Settlements Programme is to promote sustainable development, and it has been given responsibility for facilitating the global observance of World Cleanup Day.

“Our world is facing an environmental crisis. Approximately 40 per cent of global municipal waste, equivalent to 2.3 billion tonnes, is not handled properly,” says Michal Mlynár, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme.

He says that they want to raise awareness of the problem of waste pollution and promote sustainable approaches to waste management by mobilising cities and local communities to take part in cleanup initiatives.

As part of the event, GRID-Arendal, a Norwegian environmental organisation, will contribute its expertise in policy to reduce marine litter and plastic pollution.

– World Cleanup Day is an important tool for raising awareness and encouraging people to take part in the fight against litter in nature, says Karen Landmark, CEO of GRID-Arendal.

She also hopes that the day will provide an additional incentive to achieve a global plastics agreement through the ongoing negotiations, which are entering their final round in December.