#EUBeachCleanup

2021 campaign report

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Together to protect marine life
The ocean covers 70% of the planetary surface. It is
indispensable to life, forms part of the carbon cycle,
and influences climate and weather patterns. Oceans
are the source of life itself and home to a wealth of
biodiversity. But the ever-growing issue of marine litter
and pollution is critically endangering it.
#EUBeachCleanup is a world-wide ocean-activism
and awareness-raising campaign, aiming at protecting
marine biodiversity and fighting pollution of the Ocean,
internal waters and waterways.
#EUBeachCleanup is a well-established, global
campaign, building momentum since five years. The
2021 edition took place from mid-August, peaking on
18 September for World Clean-up day and formally
lasting into October with some actions still organized
in November.
Since 2019, #EUBeachCleanup is co-organized by
the European Union (EU) and the United Nations
(UN). EU and UN share an unwavering commitment
to multilateral cooperation and the implementation of
the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, including
SDG-14 “Life under water”. The Smurfs® is the official
brand partner for the campaign.
#EUBeachCleanup is expanding like rings on a water
surface, regularly inviting onboard new partners
such as international and national institutions, civil
society groups and individual citizens, who share our
commitment to cleaner oceans.
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Walk the talk
At its core, #EUBeachCleanup is about action. The
campaign aims to make a difference at two levels:
• a
t individual level, it aims at changing our daily
behaviours and adopting environmentally-aware
practices
• a
t collective level, it contributes to raising
awareness of the issue and pushing for policy and
societal changes.
During the campaign, 100s of beach cleanups are
organized in countries worldwide, driven by staff from
the global networks of EU (Delegations and Missions)
and UN offices. From actions with 100s of participants
to smaller, spontaneous groups of citizens, the events
are organized in a grassroots fashion, allowing for
adaption to local circumstances. The decentralized
structure of the campaign enables mobilization of local
networks of schools, public authorities, businesses
and associations.
An important new development of the 2021 edition has
been the increasing number of #EUBeachCleanup
events organized without the involvement of EU or
UN personnel. This gradual, but significant shift in the
direction of a more spontaneous citizens movement
has been facilitated through the ActNow app made
available to the campaign by Aworld®. ActNow allows
individuals to set up events, invite participants and
share their results, through social media.
The campaign is supported by a small, ad hoc
secretariat in Brussels and New York, in charge of
general strategy and coordination.
The World of #EUBeachCleanup

Following 2020, where the bulk of action had moved online, this year #EUBeachCleanup almost came
back to its original form of mostly physical events. #EUBeachCleanup actions were organised in over 60
countries.

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174 7 20
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2 3
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Physical event

Mentions of #EUBeachCleanup on social media

~0% 0.1% - 1.2% 1.7% - 3.9% 5.6% - 7.8% 16.2% - 20.5%

1. Albania 16. El Salvador 31. Mexico 46. Sierra Leone

2. Algeria 17. Germany 32. Montenegro 47. Singapore
3. Angola 18. Ghana 33. Mozambique 48. Spain
4. Argentina 19. Greece 34. Namibia 49. Taiwan
5. Azerbaijan 20. Honduras 35. Netherlands 50. Tanzania
6. Belgium 21. Iceland 36. New Zealand 51. Timor-Leste
7. Benin 22. Indonesia 37. Norway 52. Tunisia
8. Bolivia 23. Ireland 38. Palestine 53. Turkey
9. Brazil 24. Israel 39. Panama 54. Turkmenistan
10. Bulgaria 25. Italy 40. Paraguay 55. UK
11. Burundi 26. Jordan 41. Portugal 56. Ukraine
12. China 27. Kazakhstan 42. Romania 57. Uruguay
13. Croatia 28. Kenya 43. Russia 58. USA
14. Cyprus 29. Madagascar 44. Senegal 59. Uzbekistan
15. Ecuador 30. Mauritius 45. Seychelles 60. Venezuela

In those countries, 277 cleanup events took place

mobilising over 15,000 participants.
The actions organised by the EU Delegations in
partnership with national and local authorities, NGOs
and civil society organisations removed nearly
70,000 kg of litter, plus 1,170 litter-bags from beaches,
lakes and riversides in both coastal and inland areas.

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#EUBeachCleanup in
practice: Case studies
While numbers talk for themselves,
the success of this campaign
depends entirely on the people
all over the globe who take part:
activists, influencers, politicians,
fishers and ocean carers of all
In Belgium: On September 21, EU
ages and nationalities. Together
Commissioner for Environment,
they turn a drop in the ocean into a Oceans and Fisheries, Virginius
wave of change. Sinkevičius, joined over 1,700
participants on the beach of Zeebrugge
to collect 608 kg of litter, together with
the ENECO, the EU Representation
and UN.

In Portugal: an incredible record of

174 cleanups action (of which 21
underwater!) with the participation of
4,500 volunteers mobilized by Oceano
Azul, the EU Representation, UN and
240 local organizations. The result:
In Burundi: A really successful cleanup 31 tons or 2,437 bags of litter in 68
with 300 participants collected 200 municipalities throughout Portugal.
bags of litter for a total of 2,873 kg of
mixed litter and 744 kg of plastic litter
on the Kanyosha River, organised
by EU delegation to Burundi and the
administration of Bujumbura. The
singer and celebrity Big Fizzo took
an important stance for the marine
environment by taking part to the
cleanup.

In Ecuador: 40 community volunteers,

In Hong Kong: 300 volunteers
collected 900 kg of waste and an
estimated 500 kg of nets on several
beaches around the Hong Kong SAR,
in clean-ups organised by the EU
Delegation together with Ocean3,
Sous Les Déchets La Plage – SLDLP
and V Cycle.
together with 16 ambassadors, the
Minister of Environment and Water,
and 15 scientists (and the Smurfs)
cleaned up a stretch of Playa Tortuga
Bay, in the island of Santa Cruz in
iconic Galapagos; in a microplastics-
focussed cleanup, they have picked
10 pipes (100 grams) of this nearly
invisible, yet extremely widespread
pollutant.
More clean-up stories here and
World Coastal Clean-up Day (plus
more) activities are summed up
here.
In Madagascar: Five beaches were
cleaned by some 1,000 participants,
thanks to a joint effort of Let’s Do It,
the delegation of the European Union
to the Republic of Comores and
Madagascar, The Urban Municipality
of Antananarivo, Kopakelatra, Mr. DIY.
Not only that: the EUBeachCleanup
partners organised workshops on
awareness and waste prevention, in
collaboration with the Urban Commune
of Sainte-Marie, the Tourism Office, the
Ceta Mada association and dozens of
volunteers.

In Kazakhstan: 620 kilograms of garbage were collected along the Yessil River
in Nur-Sultan in a cleanup event organized by the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan,
the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Kazakhstan and the Embassy of
Estonia in Kazakhstan with the support of administration of Nur-Sultan city. Around 70
people took part in the initiative: representatives of the administration, EU embassies,
international organizations, eco-volunteers, journalists and citizens of the capital of
Kazakhstan. Read more.

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Spreading the message: A massive digital footprint
The digital version of #EUBeachCleanup
had significant impact. From 18 August,
first day of the #EUBeachCleanup
challenge, on the EU social media
channels (EEAS, DGs, agencies, EU
Delegations and EC Representations) has
generated 825 thousand interactions and
7.2 million impressions.
In a remarkable development,
#EUBeachCleanup is becoming an
increasingly established brand: local
organisations and volunteers involved
in spontaneous and individual cleaning
actions are using the hashtag. The positive
sentiment the campaign generates is also
confirmed by the list of most frequently
associated hashtags and top themes:
positive attitude and clear call to action.
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As per previous years, a landing page was
also developed on the EEAS website to
inform participants and interested parties
with more details about the campaign
and to gather different stories, photos
and videos of past clean-up actions. This
year, during the month of September, the
campaign page achieved an increase of
500% in page views, compared to 2020.
The success is the result of a paid social
media campaign and a further broadening
of the campaign with the support of partner
organisations.
When it comes to content specifically for
the website, a news item was produced
to announce the launch of the campaign
on the 18th of August. By sending it to the
EEAS mailing list of journalists, the news
item reached a larger audience. The press
statement on the World Coastal Clean-
up Day (18 September) also generated
good results, as well as the news item to
mark the same day. Eventually, a wrap up
video was produced to highlight the main
features of this year’s #EUBeachCleanup,
that was presented during COP26 in
November 2021.
#EUBeachCleanup in social media

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Action through partnership
Additional partners and supporters of the campaign: Europe Direct Network via the many regional offices,
UN regional offices, UNEP, the UN Youth Envoy, Let’s do it World, Oceano Azul Foundation, Ostia Cleanup,
Santa Severa Cleanup, Sea-Ty, Somar, The Black Bag, Vans, Verdeluz, Worldrise, Yogis4Nature, Zero Waste
Stories, PlaSS Project, Fresh Hope from the Ocean, AEMA UPF, Surf Anzoategui, All For Blue organization.
Furthermore, Sea life and North Seal contributed to the video ‘Simba: For a life free of plastic’, in support for
the protection of marine life as per this year’s #EUBeachCleanup theme in line with COP 15.

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Click here for photos and here for videos.