Skopje Rolls Out Another Clean-Up at Over 50 Locations - the Real Test Is Between Two Campaigns

On Wednesday, 14 October, at 11 a.m., Skopje heads out again with gloves and bin bags. The mayor of the City of Skopje, Orce Gjorgjievski, has announced a new clean-up at more than 50 locations across all of the capital's municipalities: parks, streets, footpaths, public areas and the spaces between apartment blocks.

This is the second round of the "Let's Leave an Example, Not Litter" initiative, which kicked off on 30 September. The city says organised clean-ups will now take place twice a month. Municipalities, mayors, schoolchildren and every citizen willing to give up some of their time have been invited.

"Every neighbourhood matters. Every part of Skopje deserves attention, care and a clean environment," Gjorgjievski said. Citizens are supposed to find out the exact locations and how to join from their own municipality - the announcement contains no list.

The most honest sentence in the whole announcement came from the mayor himself: "The real success will be when the care for cleanliness continues between two campaigns, every day, in every neighbourhood." That is exactly the test. Volunteers can clean a park in a single morning. But the park will fill up again if the bins stay overflowing, if bulky waste keeps ending up by the roadside, and if fines for littering stay on paper.

The campaigns are welcome, and Skopje needs them. It's just that a clean city isn't built twice a month - it's built in the days in between. How many of those days will be any better because of Wednesday?