A tiny little village called Budmerice located in western Slovakia also joined the international River Cleanup initiative on 27th September 2020.
A simple Facebook event and an invitation broadcasted in the local radio was enough to make 15 volunteers across all ages to show up close to the local river Gidra. All of them equipped with rubber gloves and boots, they were ready to show the world that even people in rural areas care about nature and their environment.
In only 2.5 hours the small team of volunteers managed to clean up approximately 2.5 kilometers long section of the local river, filling up to 20 big plastic bags of rubbish. Old tires, plastic tables, plastic bags, single-use cutlery but even a full porcelain set of kitchen dishes have been collected from the river. All of that in a very positive spirit and attitude.
The whole initiative was supported by the local government office, which provided the volunteers with rubbish bags and organized collection and safe disposal of the garbage bags the day after.
Goal of the initiative was to clean a section of the river which is visible to hikers entering Budmerice on long distance hiking routes, increase awareness of environmental protection among inhabitants, and mostly involve younger girls and boys from Budmerice in order to teach them to better care for their environment and surroundings.
Some pictures
