Clean-Up Event November 13, 2023

On November 13, 2023, a clean-up event of the “Floating Forward” project took place in Aswan. This event was organized as part of a one-week project workshop by the Goethe-Institut Cairo and VeryNile. The aim of the event was to illustrate the pollution of the Nile and to make a small contribution to cleaning up the Nile in Aswan.

The cleanup operation consisted of two different parts and locations. Firstly, on the banks of the Nile on the Aswan Island, participants collected litter from the land. Secondly, rowboats were deployed along the shores around the Botanical Garden, equipped with nets to directly retrieve debris from the water. These rowboats had been refurbished by the participants in the preceding workshop days, with the deteriorated interior lining repaired using panels made from recycled plastic. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to unleash their creativity in decorating the boats, resulting in great outcomes!

 All participants enthusiastically and joyfully participated in the collective garbage collection and fishing. Younger and older participants worked together with motivation, contributing to a little more cleanliness in the Nile ecosystem.

The approximately 3-hour Clean-Up action revealed a substantial amount of waste, which was presented at the concluding exhibition of the workshop the next day, surprising and even shocking some visitors. The collected waste was sent to the Waste Management Office in the Aswan Province to be recycled or properly disposed. In future workshops and Clean-Up events, the waste will be recycled directly in Cairo using the equipment and technical equipment provided VeryNile.