A total of 56 groups with approximately 2,530 participants registered for the Siisti Siti campaign, which continued into the early days of June. Litter picking and clean-up events are a spring tradition for many.
From the city’s services, groups from daycare centers, schools, and youth facilities, as well as departments such as communications, participated in the clean-up efforts. The city’s maintenance department supported the campaign with its own work. According to registrations, local associations, businesses, parishes, individuals, and informal groups also took part.
In reality, a much larger group of environmentally conscious people collect litter each year, as litter picking and clean-up events are a spring tradition for many associations, school, and daycare groups, even if not all register on the campaign’s website. Many individuals also pick up litter along their way.
Koria youth center participated in the spirit of Siisti Siti
Koria Youth Center has participated in the Siisti Siti campaign for several years. This year, a small group of young people cleaned the yard of the nearby school and the youth facility.
According to the youth center, Siisti Siti motivates young people to care for their environment and opens their eyes to the amount of litter in nature. The youth were even somewhat shocked at how easily litter could be found and how large some of the discarded items were.
The largest pieces of litter in Koria were grill station and candy bags. However, the most common litter was small cigarette butts or ice cream wrappers.
In a prize draw among those who registered and shared posts with the hashtag #SiistiSiti, Koria Youth Center was awarded litter pickers and a Kouvola product bag. Additionally, luck favored Kouvola Parish and the Ummeljoki Village Association.
Siisti Siti encourages year-round environmental volunteering
Although summer greenery hides the litter, it doesn’t disappear easily—if ever—and new litter keeps appearing. Therefore, there is a need for litter picking and environmental clean-up all year round.
Each June, prizes are drawn among Siisti Siti participants. You can enter the draw via a form on the website or by posting a photo of your clean-up efforts on Instagram or Facebook with the hashtags #SiistiSiti or #SiistiSitiKouvola.
The Siisti Siti idea and the materials available on the website can be freely used to promote the cause. The only request from the Siisti Siti working group is that those adopting the campaign mention that it originates from Kouvola. This can be easily done on social media by adding the hashtag #kouvolast in addition to #SiistiSiti.
This article is a translation from the original Finnish version, assisted by AI.