Thousands more participants in National Clean-Up Day compared to last year

Nearly 46,800 people took part in the 20th edition of the National Clean-Up Day on Saturday. That is much more than last year, when the number of participants was around 30,000 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This year there were more than 3,400 clean-up campaigns across the country, while last year there were about 4,500, because people started cleaning up in more small groups due to the coronavirus restrictions. The theme this year was "Every package counts," because according to organizer Nederland Schoon, every piece of packaging that does not end up on the street is important in preventing litter.

Companies like Jumbo and Zeeman also participated in the clean-up day, as well as McDonald's. The fast food chain asked employees to clean the street around the branches. Zeeman will also continue to clean in the coming days and make materials available.

According to a spokesperson, the participants mainly found plastic from packaging, but also wet wipes. Last year, face masks finished in seventh place on the list of most-found waste. This year, masks were still prominent in the litter. They were mainly found on and around platforms and bus and tram stops, since they are now only mandatory in public transport.

Exact figures about the cleared up litter will follow once the registrations have been processed in the special app, the Litterati app. The app shows how many items of which brand have been found.

Because it was an anniversary edition of the National Clean-Up Day, a five-part podcast series was made called "Did you waste that?" In the podcast, presenter Daan Nieber discusses a piece of litter with a guest. Behavioral scientist Eva van den Broek also analyzes human behavior in the podcast.