Raising awareness is the focus of the fifth Clean-Up Day

The fifth Clean-Up Day will take place in Grenchen on Friday, 13 and Saturday, 14 September 2024. The event was already very popular in 2023 with 730 participants. In 2024, 550 participants are registered, 310 of them schoolchildren.

Nadine Erard, teacher at the Eichholz school district: “We are taking part in Clean-Up Day so that the children are aware of how much rubbish is left lying around everywhere. We want to make the children aware so that they dispose of their rubbish properly in the future and also help to keep the environment clean.” (Photo courtesy)

A special feature this year is the poster competition for school classes. Each class can submit three posters that raise awareness of littering. This will give the children and young people the opportunity to think for themselves about the consequences of littering and how to combat it. The winning class will receive 100 euros for the class fund. The winning posters can be seen on the market square on Friday, 13th and Saturday, 14th September.

On Friday, September 13th and Saturday, September 14th, various groups and organizations will be out and about throughout Grenchen, clearing their neighborhoods, parks, green spaces and streets of aluminum cans, PET bottles and cardboard, among other things. The ETA is there this year with 100 people and the Grenchen network is also represented with two groups and around 22 people. The Grenchen mosque, the Pfadi Johanniter, the Schmelzi residential home, the SP, GLP and Greens and many litter space sponsors and private individuals, other groups and organizations are also there.

On Saturday, the activists for a clean and healthy city will meet at 4 p.m. on the market square under the city roof, where a snack awaits them. Dumpsters and containers from the Grenchen depot and the Schlunegger company as well as a separation table are available for waste. Sandra Loiacona from the Gartenzwärgli playgroup invites children to the craft table, where they can make sling balls out of old clothes. The three musicians Sylvia Stampfli, Thesi Frei and Jana Frei will treat the audience to a short concert. Energy City coordinator Sandra Marek, Angela Kummer and Xenia Hediger will address the audience a few words and point out the possibility of sponsoring a room.

Clean-Up Day will take place across Switzerland on Friday, September 13th and Saturday, September 14th, 2024. On these days, schools, clubs, companies and private individuals will clear rubbish from playgrounds and barbecue areas, clean roadsides and river banks and collect rubbish from playgrounds and parks. In doing so, they are making an active contribution to the quality of life in their community, to a clean environment and to raising awareness of the high costs of littering for people and the environment.