UNITED STAR OF EUROPE: CROATIA/KROATIEN

Almost 30 years ago, in 1994, a group of young locals from Opatija (Croatia) faced deforestation in the surrounding mountain Učka and decided to do something about it. They established Association Žmergo and succeeded in initiating a process of protection and in 1999, after a very exhaustive journey, Učka was declared a nature park.

Following these first ambitious steps, Žmergo’ volunteers took on another exciting challenge in 2012 when we joined Let’s Do It World!, a global community that organizes cleanup actions around the world, engaging Croatian citizens as volunteers in cleaning wild dumpsites, beaches, and our Adriatic sea. In the very first year, a group of young volunteers from a 17 sqm basement office succeeded in organizing the very first national campaign of Zelena čistka that gathered 41,558 citizens from 161 cities and municipalities who cleaned 3 746 tons of waste from 729 illegal landfills all over Croatia in just one day. Till today almost 300,000 Croatian volunteers have participated in the World Cleanup Day action. As a part of the global green wave we took time, and put some energy, we laughed and struggled while laughing, we did something good for the planet and us.

Today, 30 years from the very start, Žmergo is still going strong, contributing to a cleaner planet with a holistic approach empowering citizens as well as all stakeholders for a sustainable lifestyle through different forms of actions, services, educational programs, projects, public events, forestation actions, volunteering, development of sustainable tourism, food systems, culture...

Waste doesn't know borders. There is no mine and your waste. It is ours, the same as the planet is a living, sleeping, and dining room for all its inhabitants. We are all the cause of pollution and a solution for it at the same time. That’s why we all need to make an effort. Let’s start with small steps aiming for more ambitious ones.

Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of this amazing project and the humans behind it.

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