ORF Vorarlberg: Clean environment needs you!

Landscape cleaning 2023 in all Vorarlberg municipalities sets an example against littering

Vienna (OTS) – On March 23, 2023, the kick-off event for this year’s initiative “Clean environment needs you!” took place at the ORF regional broadcasting center Vorarlberg in Dornbirn. In the coming weeks, the ORF Vorarlberg invites all Vorarlberg municipalities and partner companies to a joint landscape cleaning. In order to send a clear signal against littering – throwing away or leaving rubbish behind – numerous volunteers will set out to collect rubbish carelessly left on roadsides and pathsides, in green and leisure areas as well as on bodies of water and then dispose of it correctly dispose. Information on collection dates and meeting points is available at vorarlberg.ORF.at.

Tons of trash

“Unfortunately, rubbish thrown away carelessly is and will remain a big issue. That’s why we have to consistently point out the problem of littering and raise awareness on a broad level,” says the President of the Vorarlberg Association of Municipalities, Dornbirn’s Mayor Andrea Kaufmann. Last year, a remarkable 57 tons of waste were collected from a total of 10,000 participants as part of the landscape cleaning.

Together or individually

“In the meantime, it has become a spring-cleaning tradition that volunteers all over Vorarlberg take their time and collect together what has been left behind in their community,” says Mayor Rainer Siegele from Mäder, the member of the Vorarlberg community association responsible for waste and the environment. enthused. However, everyone can pick up and collect them on their own, because tongs and rubbish bags can be picked up in the communities independently of the landscape cleaning services.

Exemplary activities

“Together we can protect nature and the environment in Vorarlberg. We have it in our hands to shape the future for our children and to be a role model,” says Provincial Councilor Daniel Zadra with conviction. The extent to which waste collection is already part of everyday life for environmentally conscious people can be seen in trend sports that arose from the connection between waste collection and exercise: such as “plogging” (collecting waste while jogging), “plalking” (collecting waste while walking) or “pliking “ (picking up while cycling).

media attention

“The ORF Vorarlberg supports this important initiative with all its media in order to draw attention to the topic and to show the great commitment of the many participants,” announces Markus Klement, State Director of the ORF Vorarlberg, and adds: “With a present, Seeds for growing basil, we want to say thank you to the voluntary collectors throughout Vorarlberg and make them happy.”

Initiative in your own environment

“We need a far-sighted and ambitious environmental policy in order to preserve the future prospects of future generations. We will save the world if each and every one of us takes the initiative and takes appropriate measures in our own environment,” emphasizes Wilfried Hopfner, President of the Vorarlberg Chamber of Commerce. “Together with politicians and the population, the economy is pulling in the same direction here.”

Waste is valuable

“We have to raise our awareness that waste is actually recyclable. Disposing of them incorrectly or even throwing them away carelessly in nature means environmental pollution and a waste of resources, as it were,” points out Reinhard Pierer, Head of Recyclables at Loacker Recycling. Keeping nature and the environment clean is an essential area of responsibility for a recycling company.

Cooperation with aha plus

In cooperation with the aha-Jugendinfo Vorarlberg, Vorarlberg municipalities are once again offering so-called “Quests” this year. As part of the aha plus recognition system, young people between the ages of twelve and 24 can take part in landscape cleaning. They receive points for this voluntary commitment, which can then be redeemed or donated for various leisure activities and rewards, among other things.