UNITED STAR OF EUROPE: GREECE/GRIECHENLAND

Littering in Greece has been a massive problem ever since. I could not stand seeing our beautiful environment and beaches being polluted by tons of plastic anymore.

I set up Zacleanthos volunteer group in 2017, on Facebook while incorporating a word "clean" into our island's name and Zacleanthos was born.

Along with a few like-minded expats we started to spread the word about our (beach) clean ups and as it kept rolling, more and more members joined. Within 6 years of its existence our project has grown immensely, now having a few thousand followers across the whole World (including tourists and other eco related organisations) but also inspired many locals and businesses to change their waste management habits, with new volunteers joining every season.

We are currently having clean ups nearly every week in the winter, also using boats to reach small distant beaches which are not accessible by land. We are about to install our very first bin(s) in some "viral" spots on our island.

We hope one day our team can significantly contribute to our poor infrastructure neglected by local authorities.

Instagram: @zacleanthos
Facebook: Zacleanthos