Mayor: 'We cannot ensure proper cleanliness with just this one week of cleaning in a year'

On April 30, the declared nationwide cleaning initiative began early in the morning, with Yerevan joining the effort. Numerous citizens, representatives of public and private organizations, and members of the Yerevan City Council participated in cleaning the city, including Yerevan Mayor Hrachya Sarksyan and Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan.

“Yerevan is quite polluted, and I believe that with just this one week of cleaning in a year, we cannot ensure proper cleanliness. We are having discussions and planning to hold a cleanup every week in one administrative district to achieve results. Currently, we have 500 cleaners, but if people continue to litter, we won’t achieve results,” said the Mayor of Yerevan.

The city’s cleanliness efforts are being carried out in designated areas. The Yerevan Municipality has provided all residents participating in the cleaning initiative with necessary supplies, including gloves, shovels, and rakes, while almost the entire fleet of garbage trucks has been deployed for the removal of accumulated waste.

The operations are organized with clear schemes in all communities across the country. Each organization knows it must work on-site until the waste is transported to landfills.

“We should not just have motivated cleanups; we need to maintain motivation towards cleanliness at all times. Unfortunately, we seem to still have an issue with considering public spaces as our own, but I believe that events like these and the idea spread among all of us that we must live in a clean environment will eventually lead us to a time when there will be no necessity for cleanups,” stated the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.

The Mayor emphasizes that it is crucial for residents to support municipal authorities in maintaining the city’s cleanliness. He underscores that Yerevan should feel the caring attitude of everyone. “All of this is about specific solutions. We need to change our behavior and ensure it is sustainable in the long term. Otherwise, every year we will gather for a cleanup, and that won’t be sustainable. We need to engage in dialogue with our society and love our city not just in words or Facebook posts, but through our everyday actions and behaviors,” emphasized Hrachya Sarksyan.

As part of the nationwide cleanup initiative, statues in Yerevan were also washed.