The people of Geneva once again rolled up their sleeves to collect rubbish in and around Lake Geneva this weekend. Some 950kg of rubbish was recovered, the organisers announced on Sunday evening.
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For the 31st time, volunteers took part in this initiative by the aqua-diving association “Genève action lac propre”, supported by donations, the canton and local authorities. There were 150 participants, down on previous years. The lower attendance was reflected in the volume recovered, which in recent years has been well over a tonne.
Despite this, “the results of this collection are unfortunately still as impressive as ever”, say those in charge of the scheme. The haul included 485kg of cans, almost 250kg of glass bottles and almost the same volume of PET bottles. But in addition to these regulars, the search always turns up a few treasures.
Treasures
This year, participants collected a washing machine drum, ten car tyres, two computers and thousands of cigarette butts. They worked both by diving into the lake and by walking along the shore.
On Saturday evening a film about 30 years of cleaning up the lake was shown.
On Sunday the mayor of Geneva, Alfonso Gomez, and the head of the cantonal police, Monica Bonfanti, took part in the official ceremony. There were also entertainment stands to raise public awareness of the importance of this initiative.
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