The Great Global Cleanup
World Cleanup Day: A Day Dedicated to a Waste-Free World
September 20, 2025
Today you’ll find me knee-deep in a river, clearing away the plastic bottles and bags caught in the brush. For me, it’s the best way to spend World Cleanup Day.
Today, September 20th, is World Cleanup Day. Millions of people from all corners of the planet are joining together to clean up their communities, their parks, and their world to create an Earth free from trash and plastic pollution.
As the lead on The Great Global Cleanup at EARTHDAY.ORG, today is a special and hugely busy time. I do cleanups year round, but there is something special about being a part of a massive movement, happening in every corner of the planet, all on the same day that really makes it feel different. You can almost feel the energy in the air whether you’re at a beach, on a river, or just on your own street, picking up trash.
Where it Began
The first official World Cleanup Day was black in 2018, and six years later in 2024, it was officially added to the calendar of United Nations International Days. But the origins of this day goes back further and is down to the work of our amazing partner, Let’s Do It World.
It began in Estonia in 2008 when they mobilized 50,000 people to clean up the entire country in a single day, collecting over 10,000 tonnes of trash. Yes you heard that right. That spark ignited a global movement, and by 2018, it had grown into a worldwide call to action.
Cleanups aren’t a new solution. As far back as the first Earth Day in 1970, community cleanups were part of the environmental movement. But many of these early efforts were led by organizations, ironically backed by the actual plastic producers, who cleverly shifted the blame for their plastic pollution onto consumers. Back then it was framed as if only people would stop dropping trash there would be no issue – when we all know the real issue is that plastic is being over produced. Often unnecessarily, as in the case of anything made of single use plastics.
The plastic industry fed us lies about recycling campaigns, which as we now know, are not the solution. By making consumers believe they were responsible for plastic pollution, they wouldn’t apply pressure onto the plastic producers to fix the problem. The problem is that the sheer amount of plastic produced – over 400 million tonnes every year and rising – makes the job of cleaning it up virtually impossible.
Cleanups – We Can’t Do it Alone!
Around the world, I’ve spoken with many cleanup organizers and they all run into a similar problem. They pick a site and make it spotless, but fast forward a month, a week, or even a day, and trash begins to return.
This doesn’t mean that cleanups don’t work – they do. The trash needs to be removed from the environment, and we know that cleanups can prevent up to 99% of the microplastics that would otherwise break down into waterways reaching our rivers and oceans.
We also know from behavioral science that if just 5% of a population adopts an action, it can spread across the entire community. This is why Let’s Do It World has chosen the theme Strive For Five this year.
It’s Not Just Pollution – It’s Our Health Too
Microplastics have taken over our world: we are breathing them, drinking them, eating them in our food and now they are inside our homes, our body’s, our children, and even our hearts. Their chemicals are known endocrine disruptors with links to cancer, strokes, infertility, miscarriages, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and developmental issues.
That’s why EARTHDAY.ORG and Let’s Do It World are calling for a 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040, and a strong Global Plastics Treaty.
Where We Are Now
Today, the global cleanup movement is a force to be reckoned with. Organizers are no longer satisfied with single-day events. The simple act of removing trash is being linked to broader fights against plastic pollution and campaigns for environmental justice.
Take, for example, EARTHDAY.ORG’s partners in the Underserved Community Cleanup Campaign. They use cleanup events not only to protect their neighborhoods from pollution but also to bring vital resources, attention, and pride back to overlooked areas.
In Detroit, we are working with our partner, Detroit Hives, Michigan, as they clean up abandoned lots, and turning them into Bee Farms; in Raleigh, North Carolina, The Great Raleigh Cleanup is working with people experiencing homelessness and giving them paid opportunities to cleanup their own community; in Miami, Florida, Debris Free Oceans is tackling the illegal dumping issues in neighborhoods like Calle Ocho.
Luckily it’s a very easy movement to join, you just need to go outside and pick up trash and at EARTHDAY.ORG we’ve tried to make it even easier than that. Check out our Global Cleanup Map to find a cleanup near you, or use our toolkit to learn how to create your own. Grab friends, family, or coworkers, choose a site, and help us create a waste-free world.
As for my plans for this year’s World Clean Up Day, I’ll be picking up trash with my friends on a river bank, probably covered in mud, but leaving behind a much cleaner space. I hope to see you out there maybe. But whatever you do, do something positive to help the planet and your community this World Clean Up Day! Thank you.
