Twice a year, everyone who lives in Ilmenau is asked to take partin a litter collection campaign under the motto "Ilmenau cleans up". With bin bags, gloves and sturdy shoes, they collect carelessly discarded plastic packaging, bottles and much more that doesn't belong there from the edges of forests and paths, streams, ponds and the banks of the Ilm.

After the spring cleanup, the second cleanup campaign will take place on Saturday, September 14.The meeting point for all TU Ilmenau members and anyone else who wants to join in is at 10 a.m. at the pond behind the indoor swimming pool. There will also be another meeting point at the university near the magnifying glass in front of the EAZ from 10 a.m. Garbage bags will be handed out there and areas of action distributed.

How can you take part?

It is very easy to take part in the collection campaign. As in previous campaigns, the garbage and litter collected should be handed in at designated stations. Information on other collection points and how to mark them can be found atwww.umweltkampagnen.de. "All you really need is a sturdy bin bag and you're ready to go," explains Jens Wolling, who is organizing the campaign again this year. "But I also recommend gloves and sturdy shoes." Anyone who would like to take part but doesn't want to set off alone can come to the meeting point at the indoor swimming pool.

"I have a dream that at some point the collectors will come back and say they haven't found anything," explains Jens Wolling. "But we're still a long way from that: unfortunately, we keep finding real garbage dumps." Many things are not simply left lying around out of convenience, but are brought into the countryside instead of being disposed of free of charge via the available services - such as the recycling center in Ilmenau. But thereare also other "problem areas": For instance, there is often a lot of "fly-tipped waste", especially around waste collection points.

The city supports, but the citizens are the doers!

The collection campaign in the run-up to World Clean Up Day on September 20 is once again taking place this year under the patronage of the Lord Mayor and is being actively supported by the city's employees. Waste collection points will be set up at over 20 locations throughout the city and in almost all districts of Ilmenau. Atthe end of the campaign,employees from Ilmenau's green department come and collect the collected waste. "The support from the city works very well," explains Jens Wolling, "but the success of the campaign depends on the commitment of the citizens. If not many volunteers join in, the city has nothing to collect." Fortunately, there are already several groups that take part time and again, including children's groups, church congregations and students. This year, the trainees at Globus Baumarkt will also be taking part.

"It's always depressing to see how much garbage can be found even in protected areas such as the Ilmenau ponds," summarizes Wolling, "but I also hear time and again from those who actively participate in the campaign that it was even fun in the end to have done something together for the environment. It's a small sense of achievement to have contributed a little to the protection of nature. I hope that parents will also take part in the campaign with their children so that the youngest children develop environmental awareness at an early age."