National Cleanup Day 2017

Working towards a clean Malta

JCI Malta & Malta Cleanup Community August 2, 2017 at 10:16 am
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Project Description

Do you ever pay attention to the sides of the road when you drive, cycle or walk? Maybe the little green area in the central strip or the side of the road?

If you ever did; then this looks like a familiar sight.

trash in Malta

Don’t you wish that your neighbourhood, beaches, promenade, countryside and nation were clean?

We do! So we decided to do something about it! Yes we’re going to clean up Malta in just 1 day and here’s exactly why:

Problem

Truth of the matter is, there are much more problems than just one.  A combination of issues which if left untackled would make it impossible for us to live sustainably, let alone reach the Sustainable Development Goals.

Littering and Illegal dumping are severely impacting on our communities and the world at large in many different ways:

  • They ruin our natural landscapes
  • They damage local flora and fauna, the whole environmental ecosystem
  • Dishearten local activists and cleansing employees
  • Reduce locations where we can spend our free time
  • Tourists return to their home countries with an impression that Malta is dirty
  • Creates a divisive neighbourhood where one is only responsible of their house and front door

This problem is also costing us quite some money; the Maltese government based on NSO data from 2015, spends approximately €105,081,000 on ‘Waste Management’; that’s equivalent to around €240.49 per person every year. Just to be clear that encompasses more than littering and dealing with illegal dumping, however excludes Waste Water Management.

Based on european estimates, as we have no official Maltese statistic, we should be spending somewhere in the region of €10-11 million just to clean our towns and cities from litter, assuming we’re as clean as the rest of the EU.

In addition to this we have a major impact to the ecosystem, and being an island this impacts directly our waters. How many times have you seen plastic in the sea? This ends up in our ecosystem impacting Life in Water, including protected and endangered species. The video below is a clear example of the harm this can cause. Note that this video contains distressing footage, view at your own discretion.

A simple example to highlight the extent of the problem, by 2050 oceans are expected to contain more plastics than fish (by weight). Now would you let your kids eat plastic?

We would hope not!

Solution

Extensive government education efforts are rendered useless when we act egoistically in front of kids when they return home from school. However we also believe that actions speak louder than words. That is why we are committed to cleaning Malta in one day! (actually maybe two)

We have committed to participate in World Cleanup Day, which takes place on the 15th of September 2018. However we feel it’s essential to get a head-start and attempt tostart building links with the relevant stakeholders way-up front. Given that we need to prove that we can involve 5% of the Maltese population (23,000 volunteers) we sought to start off with a National Cleanup Day on Saturday 16th September 2017.

For this day we have devised a plan to involve around half of next year’s target. That means

  • 10,200 volunteers
  • 68 local councils
  • 204 clean up spots
  • 50 people on each site
  • 1 country
  • 1 Day

In each clean up we will also be doing proper waste separation, educating participants on how to separate waste, by having each individual picking up strictly one kind of waste at a time. Kids are obviously welcome, provided that they are supervised by adults.

The collected waste will then be weighed or measured depending on the different types of waste, so that we can have more detailed statistics on what has been collected on the day. All recyclable waste will be correctly recycled and other waste will be disposed of in the correct manner.

The crowdfunding campaign is part of our strategy to make this event sustainable and increase our reach. This also helps us resolve problems around providing food and drinks for those present whilst giving others a memento of their participation.

In either case to carry out a clean up, we require at least 1 pair of gloves each. While donors are free to keep them after the clean up, we also appreciate those volunteers who donate them back to us, so that we can reuse the same gloves next year!

Expected Outcome

You might ask why we need 23,000 volunteers next year or 10,200 this year. The reason is simple- 5% of the population allows us to obtain a critical mass. Yes we understand not everyone will participate in the clean up, but 5% means that pretty much everyone in Malta will be aware of the cause and what we are trying to achieve.

We would like to achieve the below goals through these two cleanups:

  1. To live in a clean Malta & Gozo
  2. Citizens become more aware of what impact littering has on the environment
  3. Citizens are exposed to what exactly can be recycled and how to separate waste
  4. We stop littering our country, so we can truly enjoy it.

Our goal will truly be achieved when we can say, “doing cleanups is pointless as there is nothing left to clean up”.

Timeline

The crowdfunding campaign is being run for the duration of 1 month, to give us sufficient time to order and deliver the rewards by the 16th of September 2017.

During that period, we will be running an awareness campaign to encourage participation on World Cleanup Day, and that will be followed by additional marketing and promotion for the 2018 campaign highlighting the impact this project made in our community.

Allocation of funds

The funds collected will go towards the following items:

  1. Fulfilment of the chosen rewards
  2. Running costs for the event itself
  3. Creation of marketing materials
  4. Marketing budget to create and market an awareness campaign
  5. Preparation for the 2018 Cleanup

As an example the below is what we would like to provide each one of the 204 cleanup sites

  • A Pair of Heavy Duty Gloves
  • First Aid Kit
  • Map and Cleanup Manual for the site, to be used on the day, and are then donated to a local library
  • Identifiable T-shirts for site Leaders
  • Water delivered through water dispensers

Water Bottles / Flasks and Ftiras are also on our wishlist but we are only delivering these for those who specifically order them or if we reach the related stretch goals.

Reward Explanation

Our campaign rewards are directly linked with participating within the National Cleanup Day, and thus are built to ensure that you have the necessary equipment and that  the necessary safety precautions are taken. Thus, in order to keep our expenses low we are only providing a single time window for pick-up of the rewards, that is during the National Cleanup Day on Saturday the 16th of September 2017 at your assigned site. So yes if you’re donating and want your reward we’re expecting you to be part of the cleanup.

Our rewards are split into two:

  1. Individual based rewardsHere we are including things like gloves, flasks, food, t-shirts, caps and garbage pickers for those who are not able to bend down to pick rubbish. Rewards at this level start from €5 and go all the way up to €60
  2. Corporate RewardsCorporate rewards are directed towards companies and entrepreneurs starting from a PR workshop priced at €100, a plaque of participation which you can show off at your shop or office for €150, and with €700 you can sponsor a site. When sponsoring a site you can also take care of it as a corporate sponsor and make that site cleanup your CSR event. We’ll make sure that you have gloves, food and plenty of water alongside any other site amenities listed earlier. T-shirts & caps are not included as one might want to use their own corporate wear but we are willing to provide these at an extra fee.

Who are we

This initiative is part of Let’s Do It World, a movement towards cleaning the world in one day, which culminates in next years’ World Cleanup Day on the 15th September 2018.

Locally this project is being driven by JCI Malta and Malta Cleanup, with the primary drivers being Valeria Lvova and Camilla Appelgren respectively. Camilla, originally from Sweden, has been running cleanups in Malta for the past 6 years, dragging her 2 young kids along. During this period she has also spent time going to schools and educating kids on how to upcycle, recycle, and reduce their environmental/carbon footprint.

JCI Malta, has also previous experience in this event due to having been part of Cleanup Day in both the 2012 and supported the 2014 campaigns. In November 2016 JCI signed an international agreement to include Let’s Do It within its 120 member countries, including Malta. This has a direct impact on a number of Sustainable Development Goals which the organisation committed to help achieve by 2030. JCI Malta also signed both agreements individually in November 2016 and February 2017. Valeria Lvova has also attended 2 international trainings given by the Let’s Do It Team Internationally on behalf of JCI Malta in Estonia and Basel.

JCI Malta would also like show appreciation to our partners: KPMG; Misco; Concept Stadium; Maze Digital and Eduline, without which we would not be able to give our youth and communities the development opportunities and dedication they deserve.

Will it Work?

As our goal is to move 5% of the Maltese population in 2018, we have looked at best practice cases from around the world. Case in point being Slovenia who managed to move 13% of their local population within 1 day!

We have studied these models closely and believe that we can do it. This crowdfunding campaign is one of our fundamental steps in making this successful. We have already started by reaching out to all local councils and various student, and volunteer groups across the island, and we are confident that the National Cleanup will be a great success.

Call to Action

There’s only one way that Malta can ever be free of trash. That is if you help us clean it up!

Join us in cleaning Malta, and spread the word among all who step on our shores that we value our country and would like it to be kept clean.

Be part of our campaign!

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