Estonia's Quick Clean

Morgan Maher

Using GPS, Google Earth and satellite photos 10,656 illegal garbage dumping sites across Estonia were located and mapped.  On May 3rd, 50,000 volunteers set out to clean it all up in one day.

Let's Do It! 2008 collected over 6000 tons of illegal waste of every kind from fields, streets, forests and riverbanks. The total amount is expected to rise as more rubbish is registered, with a goal of over 10,000 tons. The initiatve aims to recycle up to 80% of the collected waste, currently only 10% of garbage is recycled in Estonia.

"It is not really about the rubbish. It is about changing people's mind-sets. Next year, it might be something else," said Tiina Urm, spokeswoman for the event.

This BBC video shows the clean-up crew in action.

 

Photo by jaan@flickr used via Creative Commons.