National Clean Up Week (New Zealand) – September 17-23, 2023

History of National Clean Up Week (New Zealand)

New Zealand has a week where every person is expected to join in cleaning efforts. The start day coincides with World Cleanup Day, and then continuing cleanup activities all through that week. The annual week-long event, deliberately held in the month of September, was necessitated by the increasing risk of a total environmental shutdown as a result of poor management of waste all around the world. This global problem of waste mismanagement impelled different environmental groups in various countries to organize cleanup events that would be engaging enough to successfully get all hands on deck in the effort to save the environment from the effects of poor waste management.

National Cleanup Week is celebrated in the same way as World Cleanup Day, which was first observed on September 15, 2018, and the current cleanup efforts are only building on the successes of previous global cleanup efforts. The goal was to involve 5% of the world’s population in environmental cleanup efforts, hence New Zealand’s need to contribute to that quota. Since its inception, National Cleanup Week has helped New Zealand to contribute fairly to the target quota for global involvement in cleanup efforts, and each year, it gets more people volunteering. The country’s creative campaigns catch the interest of the younger generation while also educating them on the importance of these cleanup efforts.

Global cleanup efforts have existed in many forms throughout our history, especially following widespread catastrophes such as earthquakes, floods, and powerful tsunamis. In modern history, these efforts are left to affected community members who will often have support from various international organizations and N.G.O.s.