2007

THE VOLUNTEER CLEAN-UPS BECOME A MOVEMENT

On 5 October hundreds of people who have collected several thousands cubic meters of garbage gathered to volunteer to clean-up the Latvian coastal forests. Apart from the practical value of the voluntary clean up – cleaner forest, collected garbage – this one is substantial because it shows that forestry clean-up is becoming a serious movement.

About 100 helpers took part in the main voluntary clean up in Roja , they tidied up a 3 kmlong strip of the coastal forests between the sea and the highway “Roja – Kolka”. This year Roja parish has been awarded a prize as the cleanest parish in Western Latvia, and the present relatively “clean situation” has once more justified the parish status. In total about 60 bags of rubbish were collected, which were immediately delivered to the rubbish dump by lorry.

About 80% of the total of the waste found during the Roja voluntary clean-up were PET bottles, about 10% - polyethylene bags and crisp packets, about 5% - aluminium cans for drinks and only 5% - other garbage left by the vacationers (in other coastal areas their amounts were proportionally much greater). At the same time among the waste there were also quite “exotic” findings – radios, a toilet, a half-empty paint can and a mirror, which the helpers decided to donate for improvement of the winter dwelling of Pig-man.

The voluntary clean-up was supported by the JSC „Latvijas valsts meži”, the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments, the affinity group “Tīri meži”, DnB Nord Banka, Latvijas Valsts meži.

 In the picture: The JSC "Latvijas valsts meži" board chairman Roberts Stripnieks (Roberts Strīpnieks) together with other helpers tracks Pig-man in the forest.

In the picture: The Minister of Environment Raimonds Vejonis (Raimonds Vējonis), the Association of Local and Regional Governments Chairman Andris Jaunsleinis and the DnB Nord bank representative Dzintars Plotovs are clarifying, who has collected the most rubbish during the voluntary clean-up.