On May 20, Clean Marathon was held in two places simultaneously: in the city pinewood at the Izumrudniy (Emerald) quarry, and at the Smolino lake. In the course of two games, participants managed to collect more than 2 tons of trash.
On this day, activists of South Ural State University gathered at the Izumrudniy quarry. Within 2 hours, 60 university students and eco-activists managed to collect 1,4 tons of separable trash.
“If we simply pick up trash in the park, it will soon accumulate again. New people will come to a clean spot and leave heaps of trash behind. Our goal is to not just clean up: thanks to the new trending format of a quest we attract wide audience for the event, and through the game we are forming among people the habit of disposing wastes correctly,” says author of the project, Dmitry Ioffe.
Within 4 years, there were more than 200 such games held in 63 cities of Russia, during which generally 14 thousand people collected more than 400 tons of trash. This isn’t the first time this game is held in Chelyabisnk. The city residents have participated the marathon 8 times already, having collected more than 15 tons of separable trash.
The initiative to organize the Clean Marathon was supported by Chairman of the Public Chamber, Oleg Dubrovin: “Nowadays, the topic of ecology is surely one of the most important. The necessity to work in this direction was mentioned in speeches of both the President Vladimir Putin and the Governor Boris Dubrovsky. The world in which we and our children are going to live depends on us. It is good to know that nowadays young people organize such massive projects.”
All collected trash will be sent for further recycling to Vtrokom recycling company. Remember, that only people affect the “ecological health” of our environment.
Organizer of the Clean Marathon is AntiSMOG Chelyabinsk Regional Environmental Public Organization for Control over Air Cleanness; co-organizers are: Public Chamber of the Chelyabinsk region, Association of Volunteers of the Southern Ural Autonomous Non-profit Organization, and the SUSU Volunteer Center. The event is held under support of the Ministry of Ecology of the Chelyabinsk region, the City Administration of Chelyabinsk, the Administration of the Central District, the Trade Union Committee of SUSU students and postgraduates, supported by Rosmolodezh (Russian Young People) Fund. The Clean Games project is supported by the Agency of Strategic Initiatives under the President of the Russian Federation.
