Eleni and Andrey, two expats who were married on their favourite turtle breeding beach in Limassol. It was a perfect beginning – a new start for a young couple in love with each other and the environment. But on return visits to the site of their wedding, the pair noticed increasing amounts of trash littering the beach. So they began to pick it up. And 12 bags of rubbish later, they determined that this was an ongoing, island-wide problem that would require more than two to solve.
Just a few weeks later, the newlyweds organised a public clean-up at Ladies Mile down the coast – another area polluted by the marine trash which threatens both wildlife and the environment. Over 70 volunteers from all walks of life – 2-year-old kids to 70-year-old grandfathers – showed up on the day, and collected more than 100 bags of rubbish.
“Seeing what a positive impact this had made and the enthusiasm from the other volunteers, we decided to continue with our community cleanup actions. Not only to stop waste from making its way into the sea and potentially harm marine life but to also raise community awareness about the severity of littering and marine debris. At the same time, we began giving presentations in schools to educate the kids about the dangers of waste, plastic pollution and littering – encouraging them to get involved in and learn about eco-issues so they will grow to become environmentally conscious and think about the consequences of their choices, behaviours, and purchases. Before we knew it, we made the decision to register an environmental non-profit called Let’s Make Cyprus Green.” Eleni Kazelas, Co-founder & President.
Let’s Make Cyprus Green is dedicated to raising public awareness of the negative impact on our environment caused by human activities – especially excessive waste and the wider problems caused by plastic consumption. Let’s Make Cyprus Green campaigns to encourage responsible waste disposal and the adoption of a lifestyle based on “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” (in that order of importance). Currently, working on a number of exciting behaviour change campaigns created to help reduce plastic pollution.
With being active for only two-and-a-half years, this active organization was awarded “Best Environmental Awareness NGO – Cyprus 2019” by the European Enterprise Awards and “Environmental Organization of the Year – Cyprus 2020” by ELAFI Animal Welfare Awards.
“We’re only a small handful of volunteers here at Let’s Make Cyprus Green. We have no government or EU funding or paid employees and the organization is being run entirely by people giving their spare time to better our island. We may be volunteers, but we really do try our absolute best with the limited resources we have available. We’re extremely passionate and dedicated to guiding the organization towards better heights and being part of the path there is a very exciting and fulfilling journey. We are continuously striving to be an influential and powerful organization that changes laws, shifts public opinion, and re-shapes society in a way that will benefit the environment for us and future generations. And we’re always looking for people to join our team, getting on the frontlines of the climate movement with us.” says Eleni.
You can support Let’s Make Cyprus Green by making a donation or joining their team to help clean up our island and planet by visiting their website www.letsmakecyprusgreen.com You can also follow them on social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn) to learn more about the organizations’ activities, how to protect the planet and keep up-to-date on their progress.
Together, we can make our island – and the planet – a greener, better place!
