Dr. Jane Goodall often said that every individual matters, every individual has a role to play, and every individual makes a difference. World Cleanup Day is that belief in its simplest form: a bag of litter, a stretch of riverbank, a cleared beach — small actions that add up to something much bigger. Roots & Shoots groups in South Africa, Spain, Sierra Leone, and the USA marked the day, and the months leading up to it, by doing exactly that.
In Mpumalanga, Roots & Shoots ran a full year of clean-ups timed to environmental awareness days. On World Water Day, 112 volunteers removed 150 bags of litter and cleared 450 metres of riverbank overgrown with alien invasive vegetation in a park in Mbombela. On Earth Day, 30 volunteers collected 57 bags of litter and cleared 300 metres of invasive species in the same park. World Environment Day brought out another 30 volunteers, who removed 53 bags of litter, and on World Clean-Up Day itself, 65 volunteers collected 50 bags of litter and cleared two-thirds of a park of invasive species in White River.
Taken together, these four clean-ups alone brought out 237 volunteers, who removed 310 bags of litter and cleared riverbanks and parks of invasive vegetation across Mbombela and White River in a single year.
In Murcia, the group “Yo también soy Planeta” spent a day on the banks of the Segura River combining citizen science with hands-on clean-up. Otters only thrive where water quality is high, so the group tracked signs of the species as an indicator of the river’s health — observing the environment, identifying evidence of otter presence, and assessing the state of their habitat.
As part of the same day, the group cleared waste from the riverbanks, directly improving the habitat they had come to study. For many of the participating students — young people with few opportunities to access educational activities in nature — the experience reinforced self-esteem, motivation, and teamwork, alongside a deeper sense of responsibility for their local environment.
In Chicago, the Roots & Shoots Basecamp — led by Coordinator Alex Biswas — brought together local Roots & Shoots groups and partners including @unachicago for a beach clean-up at Montrose Beach. Over 30 people joined the event, collecting more than 700 pieces of trash weighing a total of 14,51 kg. Plastic and food wrappers were the most commonly collected items — a reminder of how much everyday packaging ends up on the shoreline.
In Freetown, beach and community clean-ups tackled the plastic pollution and waste accumulating along Sierra Leone’s coastline. By removing debris, volunteers protected marine life from entanglement and ingestion, reduced breeding grounds for disease vectors, and improved sanitation in public spaces — while preserving the natural beauty of the coast itself.
Beyond the environmental impact, the clean-ups strengthened a sense of shared ownership among participants, many of them youth, who gained practical experience in environmental stewardship. The collaborative, cross-community nature of the events built social bonds as much as it cleared beaches, leaving Freetown’s residents more engaged and better equipped to protect their surroundings going forward.
A wetland in South Africa, a river in Spain, a coastline in Sierra Leone, a beach in Chicago — four different settings, one shared commitment: communities showing up to remove what doesn’t belong, together.
If these stories have inspired you, you don’t have to wait for World Cleanup Day to come around again. Find your local Roots & Shoots office and organise a clean-up of your own, or join one already underway. Every bag of litter removed is one less piece of waste reaching our rivers and oceans.
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