Kirchroa ruumt óp participant Festival 't Kirchroa va Mörje

Cleanest municipality in the Netherlands

Patrick encountered an enthusiastic litter picker during a walk with his two dogs and you could say "the rest is history. Why do you do it, where do you get the materials and most importantly where are the bags of collected litter? The man gave him the phone number of Kerkrade's municipal waste disposal site and in no time Patrick too was a ZAPper. To promote littering within the municipality, he was at one point interviewed by a national organization called 'Helemaal Groen' (Totally Green) and so he quite suddenly ended up on the front page of De Limburger. December last year, companion Luc Hennen suggested the idea of doing the pricking together with friends or better yet with all of Kerkrade. He knew of Alderman van Drunen's idea to organize a sustainability festival - now the Festival 't Kirchroa va Mörje - and pitched his plans for an event on the Markt with artists from Kerkrade and a big clean-up campaign. After all, in the 1990s Kerkrade was voted the Cleanest Municipality in the Netherlands and it should be able to do so again. That idea turned out to be a bit too big to begin with, but it did inspire the start of Kirchroa ruumt óp.

An activity every month?

Joining the National Cleanup Day on March 18 was the kickoff of the initiative where as many as 100 participants, including the mayor and several aldermen, rolled up their sleeves. In the City Park, people could pick up the necessary materials and then go and clean up wherever you wanted. By bike and by car, Patrick and his friends brought around new bags and collected full ones. Miner Energy, one of the Kerkrade sponsors of the event, provided the pickers with a delicious energy drink and the fun couldn't stop. The idea was well received and tasted like more. In April it was joined by Earth Day, in May by The Week Without Waste including an e-waste challenge for elementary schools and clean up together with Kerkrade's Impuls locations. In June the Kirchröadsjer ópruumdaag came into being, in August there were some small events among friends and in September followed the Kirchroa ruumt óp: World Clean up Day. On Oct. 19 and 21, they can be found at the Festival 't Kirchroa va Mörje activities.

A foundation

A beautiful, almost accidental initiative that wanted to grow further had to be put into an official format in order to do so and a board formed with Patrick as chairman accompanied by Luc Hennen, Mark Meijer and Stijn Conjaerts. The foundation was born and people annoyed by litter found themselves. Some with a one-time participation in an event, others as regular participants. Conviviality and the approach Kerkrade clean did the rest. The as many as seven events in 2023 had a result of more than 3000KG of litter collected. This is a fantastic result however with double feelings - a good result is a bad result. The gentlemen have already made plans for 2024 and made the decision to choose three big moments. In March the National Clean up Day, in May/June an activity for schools and in September the World Clean up Day. Together strong for the growth of awareness to combat waste and an even nicer living environment. Plenty of ideas and ambitions from the foundation to once again make Kerkrade the cleanest municipality in the Netherlands, if only for a short while.

Sustainability Awards Nomination

Fresh off the press is the nomination for the Awards for Sustainability. This national project aims to give green initiatives a stage and inspire others. Different categories of sustainable initiatives are rewarded and Kirchroa ruumt óp is nominated for the Province of Limburg in the category 'Clean up local not for profit'. From October 10 to November 23, 2023 you can vote for your favorite green initiative via the website www.awardsvoorduurzaamheid.nl. As a voter you also have a chance to win great prizes! Will you vote?

For more information, see the Facebook page Kirchroa ruumt óp.

For all 18 events of the Festival 't Kirchroa va Mörje from Oct. 14 to 21, see www.festivaltkirchroavamorje.nl