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Civic initiative tackles waste
24th of November 2025 Article by Christian Bouzols
Christian Bouzols in France tells us about a community programme to combat litter.
In France, the equivalent of 200 million bin bags are still discarded in the environment every year.
Faced with this alarming reality, World Cleanup Day – France organised a major mobilisation bringing together citizens, businesses, associations, schools and local communities from during a week in September, as part of the world’s largest civic and environmental action.
While this initiative transcends borders, it is worth noting that in 2024, more than 140,000 French people donned gloves and collected rubbish from public roads alongside 23 million volunteers in 190 countries and territories. This was an unprecedented mobilisation... but it is still not enough to curb the proliferation of litter.
A movement for everyone
World Cleanup Day is not just for large organisations: it belongs to everyone, and thanks to local initiatives across the country, every citizen was able to join a clean-up near their home during the third week of September. Businesses, local communities and associations also mobilised their teams around the project. As for schools, many of them took advantage of this week to raise awareness among the younger generation, who are the real agents of change.
And there is much work to be done: every year, nearly one million tonnes of litter are abandoned in France. Plastics, cigarette butts, cans, tyres, bulky items... All these pollutants are left along public roads or in illegal dumps in rural areas.
And while picking up litter is not a solution in itself – local authorities are increasingly cracking down on offenders – it is the most active and probably the most effective way of raising awareness of the need to reduce our waste at source.
According to the initial figures available, 125,000 people took part in Operation 2025, which ended on September 21. Four thousand ‘clean-up events’ were recorded. However, the results are still provisional at this stage and will be finalised in the coming weeks.
Around the world
Founded in Estonia in 2008, the Let’s Do It movement has set itself the mission of combating litter through citizen clean-up initiatives. Since 2018, participating countries have been coordinating their actions to take part in World Cleanup Day, the largest citizen mobilisation on a global scale. In 2022, World Cleanup Day attracted 15 million participants in 190 countries and territories.
In 2023, participation reached record levels with 19.1 million participants worldwide. This year, World Cleanup Day was added to the UN calendar of international days and weeks.
World Cleanup Day in France
Created in 2017, the World Cleanup Day - France association is committed to ensuring that cleanup operations are a catalyst for behavioural change while raising awareness among individuals to adopt more responsible practices in terms of production, consumption and waste management. Driven by unifying, educational, inclusive and friendly values, the movement aims above all to raise collective awareness, beyond the million tonnes of waste collected each year.
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