SNOHOMISH COUNTY — Sunday is World Cleanup Day, an annual United Nations observance on September 20 that calls on governments, cities, schools, businesses and individuals to organize activities addressing waste, with a 2026 focus on food waste under the theme “From Clean Plates to Clean Cities.”
The U.N. General Assembly proclaimed the day in Resolution 78/122 that was adopted December 8, 2023. The 2026 global event is being held in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, China.
U.N. figures cited for the day show about 1.05 billion metric tons of food was wasted in 2022 at household, food-service and retail levels — 19% of food available to consumers. Households account for 60% of that consumer waste. Food loss and waste generate 8% to 10% of global greenhouse-gas emissions and cost the world economy about $1 trillion a year. More than 1 billion meals are wasted daily even as hundreds of millions of people face hunger.
The observance of World Cleanup Day grew from the Let’s Do It World civic movement, which has mobilized tens of millions of volunteers across more than 190 countries in recent years to collect litter from streets, beaches, rivers and parks. National CleanUp Day in the United States, held the third Saturday of September, fell on September 19 this year and is often coordinated alongside World Cleanup Day.
The City of Lake Stevens held a free community cleanup Saturday, September 19, at Cavelero Mid-High School in partnership with Waste Management.
Washington State University Extension Beach Watchers, which regularly organizes shoreline cleanups in the county, has its next scheduled event Saturday, September 26, from 10 a.m. to noon at Howarth Park in Everett. That cleanup uses the EPA’s Escaped Trash Assessment Protocol to count, weigh and categorize debris. Periodic cleanups also occur at Picnic Point County Park in Edmonds (October 13) and Mukilteo Lighthouse Park (December 14).
Snohomish County Parks maintains ongoing volunteer opportunities for litter cleanup, trail maintenance and habitat work at sites including Meadowdale Beach Park, where an estuary maintenance work party is scheduled for September 27. The county’s volunteer portal lists additional stewardship projects at parks such as Lord Hill Regional Park and Kayak Point. Community groups such as Green Snohomish also organize periodic litter pickups along streets and river corridors.
Author: Mario Lotmore
