Saturday 21 April 2012 saw the conclusion of the annual ‘For a More Beautiful Ljubljana 2012’ cleaning campaign with the cleaning drive on the River Ljubljanica.

The ‘For a More Beautiful Ljubljana 2012’ campaign ran between 22 March, World Water Day and 22 April, World Earth Day. The campaign comprised, as well as the City of Ljubljana and some of its public institutes and companies, all 15 tourist organizations that operate in Ljubljana, the Vivera Association for Underwater Activities, Sezam, Savlje Kleče Agricultural Machinery Association and the Association of Boatmen and Rafters – Špica. More than 80 individual actions were carried out.

The central event of the campaign was – for the 21st year running – the traditional cleaning of the Ljubljanica, which, alongside its ecological mission, has also become a favourite tourist attraction. The campaign on Saturday 21 April was participated in by divers, members of the Vivera Underwater Activities Association, members of other diving clubs in the Slovenian Diving Association and members of other societies: environmental protection groups, fishermen, fire fighters, paramedics and boatmen. Together, they cleaned the bed of the Ljubljanica between Špica and the Dragon Bridge and the rubbish lifted from the water was put on display as a reminder to passers-by on Cobblers’ Bridge.

Also on Cobblers’ Bridge, from 10am onwards, potted pansies were handed out free by the Ljubljana Tourism public institute, which, in addition to adding beauty to the city, have a powerful symbolic value. From 11am to 1pm, on Cobblers’ Bridge and on the Hribar and Cankar Embankments (Hribarjevo and Cankarjevo nabrežje) there was a cultural-entertainment event in which the Water Man goes among the strollers in bourgeois clothing to seek his conceited maiden Urška. Once he found her, they danced away together into the Ljubljanica close to the Triple Bridge.

As part of the traditional spring-cleaning campaign ‘For a More Beautiful Ljubljana 2012’, colleagues from the City of Ljubljana and its public companies and institutes joined in the Ecology Without Frontiers pan-Slovenian cleaning campaign ‘We’re Cleaning Slovenia 2012’ on Saturday 24 March 2012.

Staff from the City of Ljubljana cleaned up areas of Tivoli Park, the Koseze Marshes area and Rožnik, while staff from City of Ljubljana public institutes and companies cleaned the areas around the headquarters of their institutes and companies. City of Ljubljana District Authorities and many Ljubljana societies were also actively involved in the cleaning campaign. This year, we also separated waste collected, as we sought in this way to emphasise the importance of separating waste and making a contribution to greater recycling and reducing the amount of waste that is disposed of in the Barje landfill site.

The City of Ljubljana earmarked €240,000 for the removal and disposal of waste collected in the ‘We’re Cleaning Slovenia 2012’ campaign. As part of the ‘We’re Cleaning Slovenia 2012’ campaign on Saturday 24 March 2012, Ljubljana residents were able to bring waste to any of 62 collection points, while the Snaga public company used 33 vehicles to transport the material to Barje and the separated waste collected directly to Dinos. Thus, Snaga staff transported more than 300 tons of waste to the Barje Waste Management Site. Most of this was bulk waste (200 tons) and mixed municipal waste (86 tons), while they also transported 12 tons of various tyres and 1,500 kilograms of dangerous waste.