Specially for this purpose one of the Skype inventors, Ahti Heinla, and the founder of Microlink and Delfi, Rainer Nõlvak have created digital garbage map of their country, which includes more than 10,000 illegal garbage dumps holding 9,200 tons of waste (See the garbage map here).
Public relations campaign, support of politicians and big businesses, articles and reportages in mass-media has build a strong support of volunteers. 3rd of May more than 3% of Estonian population were out in the nature – forests, fields, river banks and parks cleaning up rubbish. More than 40 waste management companies supported the initiative with necessary containers and garbage transportation vehicles. 207 temporary collecting stations were put up to gather the waste. From there the garbage was moved into 17 waste management stations. The initiative aims to recycle up to 80% of the collected waste, making it first massive recycling project in Estonia. The usual amount of garbage recycled in Estonia is 10%, so this is eight times more than the average.
This outstanding initiative has shown a great example to all the countries around the world. "It is not really about the rubbish. It is about changing people's mind-sets. Next year, it might be something else," said Tiina Urm, spokeswoman for the event.
The 4th May, Sunday, three big THANK-YOU concerts were arranged in Tallinn, Tartu and Narva.