Massive civic cleanup action looking for volunteers in Malta

Civic led movement Let’s Do It! Malta (LDI Malta) is organizing a public meeting in the Gateway building, Hall B2 at the University of Malta this Friday, February 21st 2014. The aim of the meeting is to include the public in on one of the world’s fastest growing civic movements – “Let’s Do It!”.

The movement “Let’s Do It!” started in Estonia in 2008 when 50,000 people joined forces to clean up the entire country of illegal waste and rubbish in just one day. Under normal circumstances it would have taken the government three years and €22,500,000 to clean up the same amount of illegal garbage. Despite this, the task was accomplished with a budget of €500,000 and in a single day. Presently, about 9 million volunteers have participated in “Let’s Do It!” actions and the network has spread throughout 110 countries (including Malta).

“Everyone is welcome to attend our public meeting where we will discuss present and future plans for the clean-up taking place in our country. We are open to the participants’ suggestions and ideas and everybody is very welcome to contribute,” said Faisal Sadegh, the national coordinator of Let’s Do It! Malta. 

According to Sadegh, raising awareness about the risks that go hand in hand with damaging the environment and biodiversity of our Islands both deserve our attention. Presently Malta struggles with illegal waste dumping, a problem that is harming both the island and its habitants.

“We will target multiple illegal dumping sites, which makes us different from other clean-up actions which have concentrated on only one location at the time. We wish to bring the Maltese people together and create a strong, positive attitude towards the sustainability of our home,” he added. Sadegh is also the lead project coordinator of the international Let’s Do It! World project, Let’s Do It! Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean clean-up action will take place on the 10th and 11th of May in more than 20 countries in the region which have come together in order to work towards a common cause. In addition to the countries within the Mediterranean region, Sweden, Estonia and Austria have also joined the project.

“This massive civic movement is unique because it brings people together, gives them the opportunity to be part of a change and see how it is in fact our own hands with which we can work towards a cleaner and much healthier tomorrow. People from different sectors of society working together with a consensus to achieve a common, positive goal is also likely to boost the level of cooperation in our society in general, making it much easier to tackle other social challenges, not just the environmental ones,” Sadegh says.

A variety of organizations such as Gaia Foundation, Why not?, Green Drinks Malta, Il-Majjistral Nature and History Park, Sharklab, Plastic Oceans, Ocean Mysteries Diving, the International Erasmus Student Network, as well as representatives from the University of Malta’s Institute of Earth Systems will be taking part of the meeting as well. The help of volunteers is needed for all aspects of organizing the national cleanup from logistics to communications. Anyone who is interested in helping organize the country’s clean-up action can contact Let’s Do It! Malta by means of the following e-mail address: [email protected].

The Facebook event for the February 21st meeting can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1424407344467048/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming