7 May (ERR)

Over 30 000 people participated in the “Let's Do It!” nationwide cleanup initiative on Saturday – two times more than had initially registered. Despite the windy day and occasional showers, the 1 220 community events held across the nation went smoothly, the organisers said. Participation in Harju County was most active with 8 032 people, followed by the island county of Saaremaa and Tartu County. This year's event was also more popular than in 2011, when the initiative drew around 25 000 people.

"The experience of the civil initiative has shown that it is not necessary to have tens of thousands of euros to improve living conditions in Estonia – it is sufficient to have tens of thousands of Estonians with a caring attitude," said Tarmo Tüür, member of the board of the Fund for Nature and one of the organisers of the event.

The civil initiative was part of the larger World Clean Up 2012 project also led by Estonia, which runs through 25 September in 90 countries across the globe.