Michael Reichel (ari)
Mira Rochyadi-ReetzTwice a year, a trash collection campaign takes place in Ilmenau and also at our university. On Saturday, September 16, 2023, it's that time again: On World Cleanup Day, the largest bottom-up citizen movement in the world to clean up pollution, we will clean up our campus!
During World Cleanup Day, millions of people gather each year to rid streets, parks, forests or rivers of carelessly discarded trash. The aim is to raise awareness among the population regarding waste production and waste prevention and to motivate others to join in. In 2022, almost 15 million people worldwide in over 190 countries participated in World Cleanup Day and set an example for environmental protection and sustainability, including TU Ilmenau. More than 40 students, employees and their families also participated in the university's spring cleanup.
"Unfortunately, many negative examples can also be found in the university's environment: From carelessly discarded cigarette butts and plastic packaging to bottles and old clothes to construction waste, household appliances and truck tires, we have found everything during past campaigns," says Prof. Jens Wolling, Head of the Group for Media Research and Political Communication, who is coordinating the campaign in Ilmenau: "I think it's also an important signal to the city when university employees get involved and also help clean up the city. That's why we're hoping for many volunteers again this time who will actively participate and help clean up Ilmenau and the surrounding area."
This is how you can support the campaign:
1. Mark September 16 in your calendar now and pass on the collection appeal to other enthusiastic environmentalists.
2. Join the action (preferably together with friends and family) and bring gloves, garbage bags and sturdy shoes on September 16. Our meeting place and time will be 10 am at the Finnhütten, Langewiesener Straße 32.
3. Place the trash at one of the official collection points so that it can then be cleared by the city.
Information about the collection points at the university and in the city area, as well as the contact persons, will be available from the second week of September on the website www.umweltkampagnen.de. The same trash collection points will be set up as in the spring. If you would like to have another collection point, please contact us with as specific details as possible at info@umweltkampagnen.deso that the city can coordinate the placement of collection signs.
4. send your photos of the action with the name of the photographer to info@umweltkampagnen.de so that we can publish the photos on the website, and tell us where you collected trash.
The aim of the initiator of World Cleanup Day Germany and EU Climate Pact Ambassador Holger Holland is to activate at least five percent of the people who, through their commitment, sensitize decision-makers, business and politics to the problem of littering our planet.
