EARTHDAY.ORG and Let’s Do It World Join Forces for World Cleanup Day 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. September, 8, 2026 - What's the one thing that gets tossed out of car windows, left on benches, and spills out of park trash cans? The bags, boxes, wrappers, and cups for our food and drinks.

For World Cleanup Day 2026, taking place globally on September 20, EARTHDAY.ORG is joining Let's Do It World in its "Strive for Five" ambition - encouraging communities worldwide to help mobilize a critical mass of 5% of the population to drive broader societal change.

"World Cleanup Day is built on a simple insight: real change happens when five percent of a population moves together and that five percent only reaches its tipping point when governments, businesses, and communities act as partners, not in isolation."

Heidi Solba, President and Head of Global Network, Let's Do It World

The focus on mobilizing the public for volunteer cleanup events and zero waste advocacy is a natural fit for EARTHDAY.ORG.

"One of our major campaigns is to end plastic pollution. Over the years, we've planned and supported tens of thousands of cleanups, and one thing we consistently see is just how much of the waste volunteers collect comes from food packaging, most of it made with plastic."

Evan Raskin, EARTHDAY.ORG National Campaign Manager

"When we announced Food For The Planet as our 2027 theme, we're not just focused on growing enough food, but on how the food system as a whole shapes our environment. That means working to find ways to clean up food packaging waste."

The connection between cleanups and food policy is especially salient in Washington, DC, where EARTHDAY.ORG is headquartered and working with a coalition of local allies to tackle the bottles and beverage containers that comprise much of the litter collected during local cleanups. The coalition is advocating for a bottle deposit bill that would put a 10-cent value on beverage containers, helping keep them out of the waste stream by incentivizing their return. "Cleanups provide powerful visibility to the ways in which plastic pollution impacts our communities, and the role policy plays in solving it," said Raskin. "This World Cleanup Day, I'm hopeful that our efforts will not only remove harmful pollution from our environment but also advance the DC bottle bill and other plastic reduction policies elsewhere."

In 2025, World Cleanup Day brought together volunteers across more than 190 countries. To get involved this year, one can find local cleanup events on The Global Cleanup Map, but organizers note that volunteers can also create their own event using the Clean Up Toolkit. And individuals don't have to join an official event to participate - all it takes is an hour picking up trash in your neighborhood to make a difference.

"We do not see ourselves simply as cleanup organizers. Our role is to mobilize people and build alliances between communities, civil society, governments and businesses that make action possible on the ground," said Heidi Solba, President and Head of Global Network, Let's Do It World. "No one sector can build societal resilience or care for the planet alone. We are stronger together, and that is exactly why partnering with EARTHDAY.ORG for World Cleanup Day matters."

As they do each World Cleanup Day, Let's Do It World plans to host an international Broadcast to follow its network around the world on their largest day of mobilization. More information about the broadcast and other World Cleanup Day 2026 activities can be found at the Let's Do It World website: https://www.worldcleanupday.org/.

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About EARTHDAY.ORG

EARTHDAY.ORG is the global leader in Earth Day advocacy, education, and environmental action, mobilizing individuals, communities, businesses, and governments in more than 190 countries. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the organization has worked to diversify, educate, and activate the environmental movement through initiatives that advance climate action, environmental literacy, conservation, and civic engagement worldwide.

About Let's Do It World

Let's Do It World (LDIW) is a global organization that unites more than 190 countries' worldwide into the biggest active network of organizers to join their efforts together for a waste free world. World Cleanup Day is their biggest event, with the last eight worldwide cleanups having engaged more than 139 million people from 212 countries and territories. The Let's Do It World network is also working to advance numerous global and regional projects to catalyze zero waste and the circular economy.