The traditional ‘For a More Beautiful Ljubljana’ spring-cleaning campaign wound up on Saturday 20 April 2013 with the traditional clean-up drive of the River Ljubljanica and the cleaning campaign by the staff of the City of Ljubljana and its public institutes and companies.

The traditional clean-up drive on the River Ljubljanica

Alongside its ecological mission, the traditional clean-up drive on the River Ljubljanica, running for the 22nd year in a row, has become a highly popular tourist event.

The campaign saw participation from divers, members of the Vivera sub aqua activities society and also members of other societies affiliated to the Slovenian Diving Association, as well as members of other groups – environmental protectionists, fishing clubs, fire fighters, rescue services and boatmen. They worked together to clean up the banks of the Ljubljanica from Špica to the Dragon Bridge. More than fifty divers took part. Some of the rubbish lifted from the water was put on display as a reminder to passersby on Čevljarski most, (the Shoemaker’s Bridge) during the day.

The Ljubljana Tourism public institute took the opportunity to give away 1,500 pot plants to passersby on Čevljarski most. Čevljarski most, Hribarjev and Cankarjev nabrežje (the Hribar and Cankar Embankments) were also the venue of the traditional Ljubljana cultural-entertainment events, at which couples strolled around in period costumes of the bourgeoisie, Povodni mož (the Underwater Man) searched among them for his truelove Urška. When he found her, they jumped into the waves of the Ljubljanica together.

The clean-up campaign by City of Ljubljana staff

Staff of the City of Ljubljana City Administration and the public companies and institutes that operate under its wing joined another cleaning campaign that had been underway in Ljubljana since 22 March.
City Administration staff focused their efforts at Tivoli and Rožnik, while the staff of the public companies and institutes worked on the areas around their headquarters. The campaign also benefitted from participation from the District Authorities and various societies.

The rubbish was collected separately to facilitate recycling, as in this way we would like to highlight the importance of waste sorting and thus reducing the amount that goes into landfill at the site at Barje.