A clean and greener environment starts with us. If a person begins to clean up his or her back yard or the park in the neighborhood, we get one step closer to a garbage free environment. The Edirne Nature Sports Club (EDOSK) organized a cleaning day on Sunday at the Tundzha River in their canoes to draw attention to the garbage that covers the river bank.

Around 20 sports enthusiasts and volunteers from "Plastiğe Hayır Grubu" (No to Plastic Group) and students from Trakya University canoed on the river and collected garbage from a 2-kilometer area. At the end of the day, they brought the garbage they found in the water to the shore.

Speaking to the press after the cleaning was completed, Orkun Akman, the president of EDOSK, said they have been involved in cleaning projects in the Maritza and Tundzha Rivers with the club for the last seven years.

However, Akman said this is the first time they used canoes for the cleaning project.

"This time, we used canoes to clean the Tundzha River. Unfortunately, we collected mostly plastic waste. It takes hundreds of years for this plastic waste to decompose in nature. Now, it is almost spring and people soon will begin to have picnics with their families and friends. What we ask from the people is to clean up their garbage. It is important to keep our environment clean," said Akman.