TrashTour went around Macedonia for 6 days cleaning cities and forests, expanding our mission beyond Skopje!
Watch out next time you throw trash somewhere - we are everywhere now. You cannot hide anymore. To achieve our goal of a cleaner Macedonia, we decided to expand our clean-ups to a national level. After all, we cannot expect a big change by only acting in the capital. But what happened exactly?
1
TrashTour started on 1.7.2021, with an idea to go around the country and organize 6 cleaups in 6 cities.
2
We organized 4 cleanups in Skopje during the project.
Bridge Majka Teresa, Vardar
19 volunteers
25 bags of trash
Poligon, Kale
30 volunteers
50 bags of trash
Holiday Inn parking
26 volunteers
38 bags of trash
Dolna Matka
54 volunteers
115 bags of trash
3
TrashTour went on for 6 days and we went to 6 cities. What did we achieve?
0
bags of trash
0
volunteers
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TrashTour - overall
Kicevo
Ohrid
Prilep
Kavadarci
Strumica
Stip
TrashTour - overall
24 – 29 August
6 days, 6 cities. Almost everywhere we were greeted by garbage dumps in the streets, mini dumps in nature, piles of rubble and garbage, as we expected. What pleasantly surprised us is the great support we received from you!
Over 160 enthusiastic volunteers took part in our actions and together with young and old we collected 439 bags of garbage accompanied by a large selection of sofas, chairs, broken TVs, car parts, discarded clothes, construction waste…
With this activism on your part, we managed to beautify several streets, green areas and shores together. Of course, there is still a lot of work and a lot of garbage, but with this we have proved that many of us are tired of garbage and we are ready to do something about it and that in Macedonia there is an appropriate climate for change in this field!
We want to thank you all for participating in the actions. Without people like you, this movement would not be possible! You inspire us to continue working full steam ahead and to continue to fight together with you for a cleaner Macedonia!
Apart from working and cleaning, we saw different parts of Macedonia, met and socialized with many beautiful people and established contacts with various organizations and eco-movements throughout the country.Huge thanks to all who helped us in organizing the actions and supported us in various ways.
We had an amazing time in every city! This was a unique adventure for us. We send you a lot of love and positive energy to all! Be that way!Kicevo
24 August
The tour definitely started with a boom! We entered directly into one of the cities that unfortunately have the biggest problems with garbage. But that did not discourage the people of Kicevo to show up at the action in large numbers and with great enthusiasm for action! With a good number of 50 participants we cleaned the front of the law school, the basketball courts, the quay and the riverbed. We collected 106 large garbage bags and a solid selection of healthy clothes and shoes from which we took something home and straightened it. We celebrated the action with a quality friendship on Kitino Kale with the guys from the Извиднички одред “Мирко Милески” / Scout group “Mirko Mileski” who were the most numerous at the action and were excellent partners for its organization.
However, in Kicevo there is still the problem of reckless dumping of garbage, which will not be solved overnight, but with such steps we start the wave of eco-activism and awakening that we still need to maintain together. The fight continues!
Thanks to Dobra Voda for providing us with refreshment during the work.Ohrid
25 August
Only one day has passed, and so many things have already happened, as if a week had passed.
We headed to Ohrid. This time our target was a little outside the city, in the roads that connect Gorica 3 parking lot with Hotel Inex. The rubbish here was subtler, seemingly clean streets, but when you peek into the bushes the horror becomes apparent.
A difficult challenge, numerous bottles and small garbage cans trapped in thorns, and we were especially challenged by the love vault at the end of the road which was equipped with countless wet wipes stuck on the asphalt and in the grass.
We gathered an interesting group of people. To our surprise, two ladies from England found out about our action and joined us with great enthusiasm. Even a few people who did not know about the action, joined us on a random pass when they saw what we were doing. There were also the guys from Чист Охрид who helped us by choosing a location for the action itself, and Енхелеус Лихнид – Enheleus Lihnid in parallel conducted an action elsewhere. As special guests we also had Природна Перспектива – Natural Perspective. We rolled up our sleeves and went in strong. 34 volunteers collected a solid number of 60 large garbage bags!
In the end, because we felt particularly dirty, we celebrated with a night bath for the soul and began to mentally prepare for Prilep. The fight continues!Prilep
26 August
This is where the first obstacles in the tour started to appear. We arrive at the location in Prilep and what did we see… there is no garbage! Great, clean place! But wait, the action starts in 2 hours and people will come. Quickly, with panic, stress and confusion, we scrambled on all sides of the phones in one hand trying to arrange a new location and the hastily assembled sandwiches in the other because we were hungry.
Fortunately, we quickly found an alternative location and hoped that everyone would be notified in time and would find us. They found us! One by one, the number of participants began to grow. When we thought that’s all, suddenly a whole company of scouts from the Извиднички одред Феникс – Прилеп / Scout Group Phoenix – Prilep came out of the forest and our number instantly increased.
The cleaning of Shatorov Kamen among the quiet pine forests overlooking the huge bare cliffs around was meditation. In addition to the usual garbage, we loosely collected mattresses, TV frames, truck seats, bricks, springs, light bulbs, fuses, bat skeletons, binoculars, metro, tiles. Apart from meditating, carrying everything from point A to point B was also good physical exercise. 31 volunteers, 57 bags+ the above
+ filled souls
+ clean environment
Thanks to Еко Свест Прилеп for their help in organizing and special thanks to Mende Kostoski who helped us at the last minute to find an alternative location.Kavadarci
27 August
How far have we come? Oh, yes. Prilep. He woke us up in the morning, some earlier, some later. Coffee and breakfast in a hurry and the road to Kavadarci.
Since Kavadarci is one of the cleanest cities, we took a slightly further and more isolated place, Brushanski Bay, a nice place on the shores of Lake Tikvesh. Cute and polluted. Although we were far away from the city, we managed to gather a modest number of 17 people, and one of the inhabitants of the village spontaneously joined us. Although we were not many, the beautiful sunset and the calm water motivated us and together and in a good mood we cleared the shore of 36 large garbage bags. It takes a little to make a big difference. Gratitude to Екоживот, РЕЦ – регионален екоцентар Eco-Life Kavadarci without whom we would not have found this place to give it the love he needed.Strumica
28 August
Ah, Strumica. Cloudy lazy day, miraculously we had some free time so we decided to go to the park, lie on the grass and not move for an hour and a half. It seems that this was the general mood in the city that day because no one showed up for our action! Maybe justified because it was a holiday.
However, we did not let that discourage us. We were as many as we were and we decided that the nine of us would do our best to clean up. The music to the loudest, the mood to the max and the bag under the arm. Less than 15 minutes later, a mother with a young daughter came out of nowhere, walking through the neighborhood. She asked us what we were doing and after we explained to her, she immediately decided to join us and they started working together with the child. Together 10 and a half people collected an impressive 30 large garbage bags. It was enough for only one person to appear. If we have positively influenced at least one person, if we have inspired and motivated her, we have expanded the movement and we have succeeded. And when it seems most hopeless to you, know that there are always people who want to work, help and are eager for change. And when they are not there, you are the role-model! Be the mother with the child! It is your and our task to restore hope and motivation to those who lack it. Let’s ignite the embers. Macedonia will not remain unclean!Stip
29 August Nothing would prepare us for what was waiting for us in Stip. The location was perfect. Long, wide and spacious tree lines in the vicinity of Mirjanina Church. Quiet and peaceful. By no means a place that would be associated with garbage, but among the trees hid unimaginably huge amounts of waste of all kinds, creating an unwelcome dissonance in this harmony.
The action started slowly. One by one people started coming. And yet to come. And more. And more. So many people started showing up that we could not start cleaning because every 2 minutes a new group of people came. As we awoke, we suddenly became a whole army. Beautiful view from the crowd in green T-shirts, excitement in the air.
With shouts as if we were going to war, we rushed to the garbage. We were shocked by the enthusiasm of the participants. There were tons of garbage, there was huge pieces of waste that we thought had no chance of being collected. The opposite has been proven to us. Sofas? No problem! A group of children resolutely pushed them out of the forest to the gathering place! Piles of metal and electronic waste? Another group did not leave the place until they collected even the smallest pieces, although the bags began to weigh 10 kilos and tear. A third group of hands carried large parts of cars, furniture and construction waste. Hardworking and together, 61 volunteers, we did a great job! The amount of waste we collected was amazing and surpassed all previous cities! 150 large bags of garbage, many of them weighing 5-6 kilos and a huge amount of other garbage.
We could not have imagined a better end to the tour! Thank you, scouts from the Извиднички Одред Еквинокс – Штип – Scout Group Equinox Shtip for unreservedly engaged in the organization and gave the maximum during the action. We thank Тошиќ Дарко for guarding the collected waste while the institutions came to collect it. Thank you AnaMarija for surprising us with homemade pastries for the end of the action, we were all hungry. Thanks to the owner of Coffee Lab for giving us a 50% discount on all drinks when he found out who we are and what we do. Thank you all for contributing in any way, for being part of this act and we hope you will continue to spread this energy!4
TrashTour - The movie!
During TrashTour we faced interesting challenges, learned many new things, gained valuable experiences, met many beautiful people and had a lot of fun friendships and adventures.
We tried to skip all this in one short film. We hope that this film will serve as a reminder that there are many people who are overwhelmed by the garbage, who don’t want to sit idly by and are ready to activate for the changes they want to see! We hope that this film will spark your desire for activity and motivate you to be an example for others! Because change will not come by itself, we must work for it.
Total impact during the project
0
bags of garbage
+ car parts, furniture, electronics, construction waste...
+ car parts, furniture, electronics, construction waste...
0
new volunteers in the actions
0
new followers on instagram
VOICES magazine
TrashTour - Mission impossible! TrashTour project aims to motivate people, inspire them to change, and create a garbage-free society. In a country as trashy as Macedonia, this is something urgently needed. And these young people made history.... read more
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MKD
Филм за нашето ѓубре (ВИДЕО) Од 24 до 29 август тимот на еколошкото движење „За почиста Македонија“ тргна на турнеја во Кичево, Охрид, Прилеп, Кавадарци, Струмица и Штип организирајќи акции во секој град со поддршка од локалните жители. „За време а... read more
The project is coordinated and implemented by the team of Za Pochista Makedonija with the support of Volunteers Centre Skopje(VCS) and funded by Foundation Open Society Macedonia (FOOM).
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