The World Cleanup Day events will take place around the world on 20 September for the ninth time and will be covered through an international live broadcast from Riga. Latvia will cooperate with Estonia, where a global call centre will be based in Tallinn, whilst a global media centre will be located in Kyiv, Ukraine.
“It is a real pleasure for Riga to host this year’s live broadcast of the upcoming World Cleanup Day and the World Cleanup photo exhibition, as the tradition of volunteering in our city has long since become much more than just a single day’s clean-up effort. This is also confirmed every year by the residents of Riga’s neighbourhoods, associations and active members of the community who organise their own clean-up events, look after their neighbourhoods and, by their example, demonstrate that the city becomes a better place when we all work together to shape it. In my view, it is precisely this ability to recognise what we can achieve ourselves and to come together to work as one that is one of Riga’s greatest strengths. So, it is particularly symbolic that this year’s World Cleanup Day story is also coming out of Riga,” says the Mayor of Riga, Viesturs Kleinbergs.
“The decision to collaborate and share coordination responsibilities between Riga, Tallinn and Kyiv demonstrates that the Let’s Do It World movement operates as a unified network even under challenging circumstances, bringing together countries, communities and stories into a single global message,” said Heidi Solba, President and CEO of the global network Let’s Do It World.
Riga City Hall will house the Global Live Broadcast Centre, whilst the World Cleanup Day activity centre (WCD Village) will be based in Town Hall Square. The global live stream will take place from 11.00 to 14.00 and from 16.00 to 19.00 (Latvian time).
“This year, the World Cleanup Day Global Broadcast will be aired from Riga, the capital of Latvia, celebrating the efforts of Latvian volunteers over many years to clean up our country, as well as in solidarity with volunteers around the world who care deeply about the future of our planet. As human beings, we are responsible for our fellow human beings. We must look after one another – this also means caring for nature and everything in it because together we are #AreNature,” says Vita Jaunzeme, head of Lielā Talka. Lielā Talka represents World Cleanup Day in Latvia.
Edgars Tavars, Minister for Smart Administration and Regional Development, highlights the achievements of Latvia’s volunteers: “Ever since the tradition of the Great Cleanup was launched, I have taken part in it every year to plant thousands of trees across Latvia in young forest stands covering many hectares. It gives me real pleasure and satisfaction that Latvia’s cleanup campaigns have now become an internationally recognised success story in the field of environmental cleanup. Thank you to all the volunteers for everything you’ve done over the past years! May our Latvia become the greenest, cleanest and best-kept country in the world!”
This joint effort by civil society, media, municipalities, the government and the private sector has resulted in Latvia receiving the World Cleanup Movement award for several years running for having the highest percentage of participants relative to the country’s population. This is a tremendous achievement, gained through 19 years of joint effort. Next year, the Great Cleanup will take place for the 20th time.
The World Cleanup Day aims to bring about long-term change
The ninth World Cleanup Day aims to mobilise a critical mass – 5 per cent of the world’s population – to take action for the benefit of our shared home, planet Earth. According to the research data, it is precisely this level of participation that can help bring about lasting change in society. The slogan for the global campaign is “Strive for Five”.
As H. Solba points out, the World Cleanup Day aims to mobilise an ever-increasing number of people to bring about more far-reaching and long-lasting change. “When a sufficiently large section of society acts in unison, it becomes a force that transcends the boundaries of a single cleanup event. With the slogan Strive for Five, we want to encourage people, businesses, schools and governments around the world to experience how individual actions, taken together, can bring about a turning point in society,” notes H. Solba.
“We no longer wish to focus solely on collecting waste that has already been generated. Instead, we must mobilise people to promote awareness and cooperation, as well as seek ways to produce less waste, change consumption habits and strengthen communities, so that single-day activities can have a long-term, lasting impact,” adds H. Solba.
This year’s main World Cleanup Day event will take place in Shaoxing (China) from 19 to 21 September, in accordance with the United Nations’ international calendar and in collaboration with UN-Habitat. Heidi Solba will represent the organisation Let’s Do It World at the event. Meanwhile, EarthDay.org is a partner of World Cleanup Day 2026.
The global network continues to grow
The organisation Let’s Do It World is headquartered in Estonia; it manages and coordinates a network of environmental movements in more than 190 countries and territories.
In 2025, 25 million people in 190 countries and territories participated in World Cleanup Day. Since 2018, a total of 139 million people across 211 countries and territories have joined the movement, working together to collect more than 870,000 tonnes of waste.
According to data from the global media monitoring company Meltwater, last year’s World Cleanup Day potentially reached 2.4 billion people through the media.
Strong communities in times of crisis
Nowadays, many World Cleanup Day teams are operating during crises – in the shadow of wars, forest fires, earthquakes and floods, whether in Ukraine, Colombia, Nepal or elsewhere in the world.
These examples highlight an issue that goes beyond the scope of any one specific cleanup campaign: how can collective action help communities and societies overcome crises, build trust, share knowledge and learn from one another to become more sustainable and resilient?
About World Cleanup Day
The movement began in Estonia in the spring of 2008, when 50,000 people cleaned up the whole country in just five hours. Latvia launched the Great Cleanup in the autumn of 2008, achieving a similar level of public participation. This initiative grew into a global civic movement, leading to the first World Cleanup Day in 2018, calling on people all over the world to get involved.
The organisation Let’s Do It World has been coordinating the campaign since 2019, bringing together millions of people in more than 190 countries every year.
In 2024, the United Nations recognised this initiative – World Cleanup Day – by including it in its calendar of international days on 20 September.
This year’s World Cleanup Day is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund.
See you on 20 September – let’s stand united with the whole world!
#SvinamDabu in Latvia!
#WorldCleanUpDay
Aiva Rozenberga, representative for Lielā Talka, Rozenberga.aiva@gmail.com, www.talkas.lv