More Than 500 Volunteers Take Part In Clean Up The World

More than 500 volunteers took part in Clean Up The World, with 10 trucks and four skips filled with waste collected across Gibraltar.

The ESG said cigarette butts, litter in Rosia Bay and waste escaping from uncovered bins and trucks remain key concerns, and is calling for greater enforcement and monitoring to help keep Gibraltar clean.

A statement from the ESG follows below:

Clean up the World 2026 saw great effort and results from our volunteers and supporters on  the day. With 10 trucks and 4 skips filled many environments were transformed and liberated  from harmful waste or build-up of marine debris. Recycle.gi was on hand on the day and  supported the campaign with extra equipment and a space for waste collected to be piled up  for assessment purposes. 

Seven Sisters saw volunteers reduce historic waste as well as build-up of cane and plastics  doing a great job. This difficult to access site required support from the Dept of Environment  and Britannia. GibDock placed skips over wall towards this effort.  

Organisers kitted out over 500 volunteers who cleared rocky seafronts, beaches, neglected  corners, cliffs, underwater sites, open water, and several green areas. 

Some highlights included the sheer number of cigarette butts collected painstakingly by  young volunteers at 3 sites. This disgusting practice is on the rise and should be addressed  once again. Fewer bulky items were found and less rubble which shows these are being  removed on an ongoing basis. Another recurrence is the careless practice of tossing beer  bottles and other litter into Rosia Bay waters. Not only is this litter but it traps marine life. We  need to get on top of this too. Lastly, we are also seeing food related waste and construction  materials from business areas and some development sites. 

Many do care about these issues and some of them were with us on Saturday to show that  Gibraltar must play its part on limiting litter and fly tipping as well as better contain waste at  every level. On windy days Europa Advance Road sees plastics and cardboard, tarpaulins  

and more fly off trucks waiting to access the Quarry or Pit to offload. In the short term the Pit  itself is being refitted with a heavy plastic curtain to reduce the amount of fly away waste as  well as replace the overhead netting. Cameras should be used at the pit to monitor trucks  arriving to ensure these are adequately covered. Fines should follow if not. 

We also have issues in Gibraltar where large refuse bins are left uncovered for ease of  emptying perhaps, but these produce terrible odours and on gusty days, sees waste fly out  which creates eyesores and hygiene issues. 

CUTW would like to see greater monitoring, rapid response and more fines applied to also  support a cleaner Gibraltar. This goes for the individual as well as commercial waste. Could  the Kingsway Screens contain a Please do not litter, Keep Gibraltar Tidy message?  

We hope awareness has once again been raised among all who took part and their family  and friends who will have seen the pride shine in the individuals who took action on  Saturday. Teamwork and outdoor activity in our beautiful land is also hard to beat even if you  are picking up rubbish! 

Thanks to all who made this possible.