For the ninth time, World Cleanup Day (WCD) returns on 20 September 2026 with a live International Broadcast connecting three cities, dozens of countries, and millions of people around one simple idea: Strive for Five. Mobilise just 5% of a population, and you create a civic tipping point powerful enough to change a country.
The heart of the show is the live studio in Riga, Latvia, located at the Riga City Council and produced in partnership with local broadcaster TV24 and Latvian partner organisation Pēdas LV ("Lielā Talka"). From here, the programme runs across two live slots on the day 10:00–13:00 and 15:00–18:00 CET with a two-hour break. Riga will also host the WCD Impact Photo Exhibition, bringing the movement’s global story to life for everyone visiting in person.
Right alongside the Broadcast, the main square outside the City Council will come alive as a WCD village, filled with small tents hosting a range of hands-on activities for visitors throughout the day: painting, tree planting, turning waste into art through upcycling, and live music keeping the energy going. It is a chance for anyone in Riga to experience the spirit of World Cleanup Day in person, alongside everything happening on the Broadcast itself.
Separately, this year also sees the official Global Observance of World Cleanup Day, hosted for the first time in China, in the city of Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, from 19–21 September. The inauguration in Shaoxing is held by UN-Habitat together with the host country, while Let's Do It World, the initiator of World Cleanup Day, leads the Call Center, Media Center, and Broadcast as every year. Shaoxing's programme includes an opening ceremony, a global relay and forums on topics like food loss and sustainable urban development, bringing together speeches and panels with international guests, including Heidi Solba, President and Head of Global Network at Let's Do It World. Our own WCD Photo Exhibition will also be shown there, alongside a screening of 2025 WCD videos from around the LDIW network 20 countries.
Alongside Riga, Tallinn, Estonia is home to the Call Center, and Kyiv is home for the Media Center, where the Broadcast dives into the ideas at the heart of the movement. Each topic at the Broadcast is guided by an expert who brings it to life through live interviews, giving the audience real content and real voices, not just talking points.
Youth Engagement puts the spotlight on the generation that will carry this mobilisation into the future — the ones who don't just inherit the world we leave behind, but are already reshaping it today. Societal Resilience asks what it takes for communities to withstand shocks and keep moving forward together, turning shared crisis into shared strength. The Role of Civic Society makes the case that real change is never handed down from above, it is built by people organising, showing up, and acting together. Climate confronts the defining challenge of our time head-on, connecting global stakes to everyday action. Nature and Biodiversity reminds us what we stand to lose and what is still worth fighting to protect. Overconsumption gets to the root of the problem, unpacking the habits and systems driving the waste crisis in the first place.
Throughout the day, the Broadcast also travels beyond the studio, cutting live to the Call Center and the Media Center to catch the most crucial stories unfolding around the world in real time, hearing directly from countries in action, and seeing, live, how the Strive for Five mission is playing out on the ground. Kyiv, Ukraine anchors the Media Center, supporting the Broadcast's reach and media coordination, helping carry the day's story out to press and partners well beyond the studio walls.
Everything the Broadcast says comes back to one idea: Strive for Five - the principle that mobilising just 5% of a population can create a genuine civic tipping point. It is not a message aimed only at individuals and communities-it is a call for governments, businesses, and communities to move together, structured across six thematic pillars: Future, Youth, Societal Resilience, Climate, Biodiversity, and Overconsumption.
The Broadcast is led by the Let's Do It World team together with our Latvian partners, bringing the full programme to life on screen.
Countries join the Broadcast through the World in Action rounds, grouped thematically across the two live slots, with the final country line-up currently being selected and confirmed.
Everyone is invited to tune in. The Broadcast streams live on 20 September 2026, with two live slots from 10:00–13:00 and 15:00–18:00 CEST, and a two-hour break in between, so there are two chances during the day to join us live from wherever you are in the world. To stay close to the action before, during, and after the day, follow World Cleanup Day and Let's Do It World on our social media pages, where we'll be sharing behind-the-scenes moments, speaker highlights, and live updates throughout.
World Cleanup Day 2026 goes live on 20 September, broadcasting from Riga, Tallinn, and Kyiv — three hubs, one message: strive for five.
World Cleanup Day 2026 and the work of Let’s Do It World are supported this year by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia and the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund.
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