On September 17th, over 21 million people around the world will be part of the largest civic action event of the year. 

World Clean Up Day encourages people from all environments, backgrounds, and nationalities to get outside and help tackle the global waste crisis. 

The inspiration behind World Clean Up Day began in Estonia in 2008, when 50,000 people joined together for five hours under the banner “one country, one day.” The simple idea of helping clean up disregarded waste has grown into a global movement involving governments, businesses, and citizens from 191 different countries.

In New Zealand, thousands of volunteers are mobilizing around the country to help tidy up beaches, reserves, and public spaces. Find a community clean up near you through the World Clean Up Day website.  

Why it matters

World Clean Up Day really resonates with us here at Aleph. The mission is simple: create a more positive world through collaborative and creative leadership. 

To us, World Clean Up Day is about so much more than just the act of picking up a piece of trash from a beach. It’s the inspiring act of a global community coming together to actively repair our relationship with nature. 

From Estonia to Brazil to New Zealand, World Clean Up Day is a moment to celebrate our progress towards a more sustainable and respectful future. It’s the opportunity to consider how we can make different choices to reduce waste in our lives. 

There are so many ways to build better recycling habits and waste reduction practices into your lifestyle – whether it’s avoiding plastic-wrapped food at the shop, avoiding fast fashion purchases or setting up a compost bin. 

We know that the beauty industry has a long way to go when it comes to reducing plastic waste. From virgin plastic packaging to microplastics littering products themselves, today’s makeup options make it difficult as a consumer to avoid sending solid waste to the landfill. 

Cosmetics are meant to make us look and feel positive, yet it nearly always comes at the cost of a healthy planet. 

Our vision for change (and how we’re cleaning up after ourselves)

At Aleph, we aim to offer a more eco-conscious choice to people who love quality, effective, and skin-healthy makeup. Our vision is to work towards a healthier future for your skin and the earth – through sustainable packaging and products that are vegan, microplastic-free, and cruelty-free.

We’ve initiated a circular packaging initiative to help reduce excess waste. Through our partnership with Glass Packaging Forum, we offer a jar collection service. 

Everything from glass jars and lids, to Serum/Primer bottles to sample shells and powder compacts can be sent back in for repurposing. Simply collect at least five empty Aleph packages, clean them out, and we’ll pick them up to use again. After a thorough sanitation process, we can safely and sustainably fill them up again with new product.  

Creating the Future

We know there’s a long way to go if we want to see a cleaner future for our planet. So many industries have normalised harmful practices that can be difficult to reroute. But it’s not impossible.

This year’s World Clean Up Day is about celebrating the progress we’ve made as a global community, and inspiring change within our local industries, communities, and countries. 

At Aleph, we’re proud to be part of the solution in our own way, one glass jar at a time.

However you choose to celebrate World Clean Up Day, we hope you feel the power of 21 million others joining you from around the world.

Learn more about World Clean Up Day and how you can get involved from the international website.