On 20 September 2026, the ninth global World Cleanup Day again turned one day into a worldwide wave of action. Preliminary data show millions of participants in more than 192 countries and territories.
This year's global UN observance took place in Shaoxing, China, co-hosted by UN-Habitat. Let's Do It World President Heidi Solba took part in the inauguration, representing the movement that began when 50,000 Estonians cleaned their country in five hours in 2008. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, is patron of World Cleanup Day 2026.
“It is important to understand that World Cleanup Day is a powerful platform for cooperation. It connects governments and civil society, building a safe and trusted foundation for creating solutions, for inclusion, for empowerment and for resolving crises. We believe our network is exactly that strong muscle, able to mobilise on a massive scale. We call on all governments to cooperate and support that action.”
Heidi Solba, Co-founder, President of Let’s Do It World and Head of the Global Network
Last and this year's message calls for engaging at least 5% of the world's population, the critical mass at which caring for the environment becomes a social norm.
“We cannot keep cleaning up the world while producing and consuming more and more. Cleanup is important, but the next step is to look at what and why we consume, how long we use things and how we can prevent waste before there is anything to clean up.”
Siiri Tiivits-Puttonen, CEO of Let’s Do It World
In Namibia President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah marked World Cleanup Day by relaunching the national Cleanup Namibia Campaign. In Estonia Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna cleaned Tallinn's Linnahall area with the diplomatic corps, while Estonian embassies around the world joined the day in their host countries. In Zimbabwe the national commemoration in Harare took place under the patronage of First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, linking clean communities to the country's tourism future. In Jordan the Ministry of Environment led cleanups in ten governorates, bringing together government agencies, security services, municipalities, schools and volunteers.
Throughout the EU, World Cleanup Day was a flagship date, with EU Delegations joining cleanups from Buenos Aires to the Ecuadorian Amazon. In Senegal, the EU Delegation, the City of Dakar and the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee cleaned all 19 municipalities of Dakar, ahead of the first Olympic event ever hosted in Africa.
“This historic World Cleanup Day united Senegal to tackle waste, planting the seed for a permanent ecological legacy that will outlast Dakar 2026.”
Stephan Senghor, Let’s Do It Senegal
In Germany, World Cleanup Day was spearheaded by Let's Do It Germany together with its partners, with Bonn serving as the event's hub. The day kicked off with an inclusive football match, welcomed by Bonn Mayor Guido Déus, who served as patron of the Bonn event, alongside Viktor Haase, State Secretary at North Rhine-Westphalia's Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Transport, and Let's Do It Germany President Holger Holland.
This year Brazil engaged more than one million students with the message “Be the 5% Who Will Change the World” together with Instituto Limpa Brasil, the Let’s Do It World network organisation.
“When more than one million students are invited to look at the places where they live and realise that they have the power to transform them, we are doing much more than organising a cleanup — we are helping shape a new generation of leaders.”
Edilainne Muniz Pereira, Executive Director of Instituto Limpa Brasil – Let’s Do It!
On the uninhabited North Sea island of Mellum, just 27 volunteers collected around 15 cubic metres of rubbish washed ashore, demonstrating that waste has no borders and reaches even the most remote areas.
In Namibia, some of the country's best-known entertainers, including Gazza, Lize Ehlers and Adriano Visagie, joined a Celebrity Clean-Up in Windhoek. In Oman, World Cleanup Day was led by Fahad Al Abri, an environmental activist, singer and Guinness World Record holder whose song “The Earth Is Entrusted to Us” has inspired young Omanis to clean their beaches.
The day was connected through three hubs: the Global Broadcast in Riga, the Global Call Center in Tallinn and the Global Media Center in Kyiv.
Final 2026 results will be published once national teams have verified their data. The next World Cleanup Day will take place on 20 September 2027.
The movement started in Estonia in 2008, when 50,000 people cleaned the entire country in just five hours. It grew into Let's Do It World, a civic network whose national teams in more than 190 countries and territories lead the day on the ground. The first global World Cleanup Day took place in 2018. In December 2023, the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted Resolution 78/122, initiated by Estonia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Climate and Let's Do It World, proclaiming 20 September as World Cleanup Day. Since 2024 it has been part of the official UN calendar, giving governments worldwide a clear mandate to act alongside their citizens. Between 2018 and the end of 2025, 139 million people from 211 countries and territories took part, collecting more than 870,000 tonnes of waste.
The World Cleanup Day 2026 Global Broadcast was hosted in Riga with financial support from the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund.
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