We did it! NL Waterway cleanup collects over 2500 kg of litter

The kick off took place on 17 September in the Dutch city of Dordrecht. After heeding our call, 25 Dutch embassies cleaned waterways across the world, collecting over 2500 kg litter!

In the Netherlands, 40,000 people joined World Cleanup Day and picked up 90,000 pieces of litter.

Wave of impact

By cleaning our waterways across the world, we can help to make them healthy lifelines for cities again. Every year, 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans. With all the consequences this brings.

The Netherlands has been dealing with water challenges for centuries. A third of our country lies below sea level. That’s why we understand how important it is to solve water challenges together. We are also working on many water projects in different countries to promote the health and safety of people and to conserve nature and biodiversity.

We would like to thank our partners who helped make this event possible: MBRC the Ocean, River Cleanup, the Municipality of Dordrecht, Deal Drecht Cities, and UN Water Envoy Henk Ovink.

And the embassies and their partners who took part this year and made it a success:
The Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the UK, Kenya, Canada, Costa Rica, Ireland, Peru, Portugal, India, Oman, Finland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Australia, Panama, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Korea, Zimbabwe, Mexico and Senegal, the Regenboog School in Voorschoten, our colleagues at Netherlands Enterprise Agency and millions of others who took part in World Cleanup Day all over the world.

All this created a buzz on social media as embassies shared their results and photographs and also tagged the EU cleanup initiative #EUBeachCleanup, in which Dutch embassies teamed up with other European embassies and local partners. This shows that by taking steps to raise awareness, we can create a wave impact across the world.

This year, inspired by the Water as Leverage programme, we have initiated the first NL Waterway Cleanup. Our goal: cleaning waterways to make them healthy lifelines for cities again. Together we can make a difference, raise awareness and prevent plastic litter on land from becoming plastic soup in the oceans. Will you join us on the NL Waterway Cleanup next year?

Last year, we initiated the NL Waterway Cleanup. This year, we hope to mobilise even more volunteers to clean up waterways across the planet. Simply by joining us and millions of others on World Cleanup Day, we can make a difference, raise awareness and prevent plastic litter on land from becoming plastic soup in the oceans.

Join us for the NL Waterway Cleanup 2022 on and around World Cleanup Day 16/17 September and help us turn waterways back into healthy lifelines between cities and oceans.