The Great Global Cleanup
Gear up for World Cleanup Day: 7 of Earth Day’s Most Impactful Cleanups Yet
September 19, 2025
Tomorrow marks World Cleanup Day, a day when millions of people around the world unite to take collective action against the global waste crisis. In preparation for this special day, we want to highlight seven of the most powerful cleanups that EARTHDAY.ORG has been part of, alongside our incredible partners worldwide.
Ranging from Armenia to India, and all over the United States, we helped to inspire millions of people to care for our planet. We are grateful to every single person who showed up for these and every other cleanup – and ask everyone to continue to do the same this World Cleanup Day.
1) Yerevan, Armenia
High above Yerevan, the stunning capital city of ancient Armenia, the view from Mount Ararat is breathtaking; however, this beauty lies in stark contrast to the trash that fills some of the streets of the city. This inspired nineteen year-old Hrachya Sahakyan to create Maqoor (“clean” in Armenian), a youth-led movement that has already organized more than 200 cleanups in just one year.
Partnering with EARTHDAY.ORG in 2024, Maqoor volunteers, made up of mostly teenagers, mobilized to restore polluted sites across Yeveran. Their largest series of cleanups occurred around Lake Yerevan on April 20, 2024, where they collectively cleared more than 750 pounds of waste in a single day. This effort helped to transform a heavily trashed area into a cleaner, healthier space for the community and for the wildlife!
Michael Karapetian, coordinator of The Great Global Cleanup, was able to attend this event and see Maqoor in full action. What struck Michael most wasn’t just the trash collected, but the spirit of the volunteers. He was able to witness how the courage of youth leading the charge in a country still recovering from conflict made these cleanups so powerful and inspiring.
One particular moment stuck with Michael during his journey to Armenia: an eight year-old boy refusing to leave the cleanup, insisting “I need to be here, cleaning up my country.” The Armenia cleanups in 2024 initiated a movement rooted in hope, pride, and community– cleanups go far beyond cleaning up trash and Armenia we saw that in action.
2) Mumbai, India
In 2024, Earth Day India teamed up with the Indian Coast Guard for a massive cleanup on one of Mumbai’s most crowded beaches.
A crowd of over 15, 000 people showed up to Mumbai, determined to tackle the tide of plastic pollution washing in from the ocean. While volunteers spread across the beaches to pick up waste, scuba divers cleared debris below the surface and helicopters circled overhead to capture the scale of the effort. The day of hard work ended with a celebratory atmosphere of games, speeches, and community pride.
This powerful cleanup effort is a part of Earth Day India’s larger mission to educate, empower, and engage communities across the country. From cleaning the River Ganges to planting fruit trees in drought-prone areas, their work builds an environmentally aware and active generation ready to take on challenges that protect their environment, and their own health.
3) Vienna, Austria
In 2024, Planet Matters made waves by launching a global cleanup app for World Cleanup Day, turning environmental action into something exciting. The app allows people to track their cleanups, connect with other cleanup communities, and earn rewards along the way.
Their motto is clear and true: When it comes to the environment, doing always beats worrying! The moment you take action, you start feeling hopeful, especially when you’re with friends!
Based in Austria, Planet Matters’s efforts quickly took off as the organization engaged with more than 200 local students to take part in a city wide clean up and teach them that every individual action does make a difference.
This year, Planet Matters is teaming up with the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative to organize major cleanup events all over the world in the lead up to the next Earth Day, 2026. They are an inspiring model for how digital innovation and youth leadership can come together to meet the environmental movement head on and energize it!
4) Penang Island, Malaysia
The weekend before Earth Day 2024, over 250,000 volunteers gathered on Penang Island in Malaysia for one of the biggest and most ambitious environmental actions of the year.
EARTHDAY.ORG joined forces with The Malaysia Humanitarian Foundation to combine hands-on environmental work with global collaboration through the Asian Environmental Summit. That meant they got a ton of people to come together to get their hands dirty, clean up trash and plant trees! In just two days, 1.2 million trees were planted by volunteers, while teams also fanned out across beaches and neighborhoods to haul away almost 2,000 pounds of trash, much of it plastic.
The momentum carried into the Asian Environmental Summit, held at Penang City Hall, where activists, NGOs, youth leaders, and public figures, including EARTHDAY.ORG ambassador Melissa Tan, came together to share solutions and strategies to the most pressing environmental issues occurring in Asia.
What made this cleanup event so meaningful wasn’t only the remarkable number of trees planted or trash removed, but also how it united community action, ecological restoration, and youth leadership- into a unified effort. Global challenges can be met when communities take action together and this community came together and made a difference!
5) Raleigh, North Carolina
In April of this year, EARTHDAY.ORG teamed up with The Great Raleigh Cleanup in Raleigh, North Carolina to put a fresh spin on Earth Day action. Under this innovative program, community members experiencing homelessness are hired and paid about $20 per hour as well as provided with meals to lead cleanups in their own neighborhoods.
Ten local members joined a cleanup in downtown Raleigh, and removed over 1,000 pounds of trash and plastic pollution in just four hours. The wages made it possible for these participants to secure a safe place to stay, a hot meal, and a shower after a long day of work.
Founder Preston Ross III notes that these small shifts in our concept of community can feel monumental, recalling how workers told him the only nights they could count on a clean, comfortable room, were the days they joined a cleanup.
This effort in Raleigh is a powerful example of what can happen when local leadership, community engagement, and long-term investment come together. It’s the future of environmental work, and we’re proud to stand behind it.
Michael Karapetian, The Great Global Cleanup Coordinator, EARTHDAY.ORG
Raleigh’s story is another powerful example showing what happens when environmental action is blended with compassion. This is the true spirit of the Global Cleanup Movement, and we hope it is contagious.
6) Compton, California
In a continued effort to support underserved communities, EARTHDAY.ORG partnered with community-oriented nonprofit The Compton Initiative, Los Angeles, California, for one of their beautification cleanup events.
During this event, volunteers poured their energy into projects as not only cleaned up their neighborhoods, but also painted fences, refreshed the Compton Courthouse Complex, and tended to Lincoln Memorial Park. By the time the work wrapped up, five giant dumpsters were overflowing with trash. FIVE!
A large sense of pride spread through the community, and many people expressed their gratitude for the cleanup volunteers and all of their hard work. Todd Bouquet of The Compton Initiative thoughtfully reflected, “Unity was lifted up, community was strengthened, and family was broadened.”
7) Miami, Florida
On April 19th, 2025, EARTHDAY.ORG collaborated with Miami-based nonprofit Debris Free Oceans for an action-packed day of cleanup fun in the lively community of Little Havana, Miami along the vibrant stretch of Calle Ocho.
To start the morning off, volunteers practiced mindfulness with a yoga session before they scattered across the area to clean up sites where illegal trash dumping occurs. This event aimed to amplify these issues and called on the local government to take action. With this mindset, volunteers spent the morning cleaning up almost 200 pounds of trash.
The uplifting, inclusive atmosphere of Little Havana made it easy for volunteers to feel like they were a part of a neighborhood gathering, rather than a trash cleanup event.
Inspired? If YOU want to help make a difference on World Cleanup Day 2025, register to take part in an existing clean-up on our Great Global Cleanup Map or even register your own cleanup with the Great Global Cleanup. Thank you to all our clean up volunteers for being a part of the Global Cleanup Movement! We salute you!