Children collect garbage on World Environment Day

ISTANBUL

As part of the June 5 World Environment Day, children across the country have picked up rubbish on the streets in various organizations to raise environmental awareness.

In Istanbul, the Fatih Municipality gathered around 300 young volunteer environmentalists to collect garbage on the streets of the Balat neighborhood.

“The children are really sensitive on this issue. We cleaned up two streets,” Fatih Mayor Ergün Turan, who participated in the garbage collection work with the children personally, told Demirören News Agency.

It was calculated that children collected some 16 kilos of garbage on the day.

Another catchy event was organized in the southern province of Mersin, where the children collected garbage on the province’s two Mediterranean coasts in the Erdemli district.

Children in various cities planted saplings during official ceremonies within the scope of the day’s events.

World Environment Day, first held in 1973, is celebrated annually on June 5 and is the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

In her message for the day, Turkish first lady Emine Erdoğan said, “We can heal the wounds of the earth.”

Calling global warming a global crisis gravely impacting the earth, the first lady highlighted, “We still have the opportunity to leave a habitable world to the next generations with the right steps taken.”

The only thing to do is to live the daily life with a nature-free life culture, she added.

Erdoğan is a strong advocate of the “Zero Waste Project,” which is held by the coordination of the Environment, Urbanization and the Climate Change Ministry and is effectively implemented in many public institutions across the country.