We organized our first clean walk

On the occasion of our pop-up store at the Boutique Éphémère in Rueil-Malmaison (92), we took the opportunity to organize our very first event in the city: a litter-picking walk.

Organized with our neighbor in the shop, the baby clothing brand l’atelier d’Anaë, and the Rueil-Malmaison town hall, the goal was to pick up as much litter as possible in just two hours while raising awareness among residents and volunteers about waste sorting and collection.

In a previous article, we explained in more detail what a clean walk / litter-picking walk was and its objectives. To learn more, it's just here.

Divided into several small groups in different areas, we were equipped with grabbers and trash bags made from recycled materials in different colors, to sort the waste as best as possible. The red compartments corresponded to cans and metal objects, the yellow ones to recyclable waste and the green ones, to non-recyclable. Everyone was also equipped with a plastic bottle for the collection of cigarette butts.

With around forty participants, including two leisure centers and residents of Rueil-Malmaison, we were able to pick up an around twenty bags of waste, including

7.5 liters of cigarette butts = more than 5,625 cigarette butts

around twenty bags + 10 kilos of metal and 1kg of aluminum

In just 2 hours!

Photo of cigarette butt bottles from the clean walk

The collection was taken to the Rueil-Malmaison recycling center for the recycling of the waste and cigarette butts, while the metal cans were given to the K Net Partage association, which is responsible for repurposing them with recyclers in order to raise donations for charities.

At the end of the Clean Walk, we gathered at the Boutique Éphémère for a snack and the presentation of prizes to the best waste collectors. The gifts were 100% zero waste: refillable-head toothbrushes from Lamazuna, recycled paper notebooks from BTDT, organic cotton soap savers from Libellule Fabrique and washable wipes from L’atelier d’Anaë.

Meanwhile Boutique and L'atelier d'Anaë Clean Walk prizes

An ecological and civic approach

But why organize a Clean Walk? Although municipal maintenance workers are mobilized to clean the streets, waste remains omnipresent in nature. According to the Les Gestes Propres NGO, nearly one million tons of litter were dumped in France in 2020. This is no less than 27% of the French people* who estimate they have already abandoned an object on the ground”.

A zero-waste walk is not only a good deed for the planet, it is also raising awareness among those around you. During the street cleaning, many people stopped to congratulate our civic approach. For us, it is not just a single reaction: it is a potential awareness. Some of the participants even questioned some of their habits. This is the case of Nadège, a smoker herself who did not expect « to find so many cigarette butts on the ground ».

Explaining to children the good habits to apply for selective sorting is also more than necessary. « Doing a clean walk with children allows you to raise their awareness and create good citizens for tomorrow » explains Jihane, a participant in our walk.

clean walk center Rueil-Malmaison

A litter-picking walk is a gesture for the planet and for citizens!

In France and all over the world, cleanup operations are organized in a festive atmosphere to pick up litter. A day is even dedicated to this movement, it is the World CleanUp Day. Next year, it takes place on September 16, 2023 all over the world. To learn more, visit the World Clean Up Day site.

Acknowledgements

Clean Walk participants

Thank you to the leisure center staff (and their 20 children), thank you to the parents, volunteers of this walk (Jihane, Ruby, Nadège, Mathilde, Didier... and the others) and thank you to Martin Mugniot for his help from La Rochelle!

Without you, this event would not have taken place! Thank you to:

Rueil Malmaison town hall logo

The Rueil-Malmaison town hall for providing us with the grabbers and the city recycling center for recycling the waste.

Thank you to the children and the staff of the leisure centers Jules Ferry and Tuck Stell.

Les Gestes Propres association for the 100% recycled material trash bags.

K Net Partage association for collecting the cans for the Tous Semblables Tous Différents association (from Rueil-Malmaison), committed to children's education.

L'atelier d'Anaë logo