Don’t litter in forest
Campaign "Don’t litter the forest or you’ll turn into a pig!"
"I’m Pigman. The most piggish of all men, you know – Superman, Batman and all the others. But I’m not proud of it anymore. On the contrary – I’m trying to protect people against my destiny."
Refuse in forests of Latvia
Public opinion poll says that every year about 82 % inhabitants of Latvia spend their holiday in the forest, and the number still is growing. However, more people in forest means more refuse – nowadays we use more throwaway dishes, packages, grills and we leave them right there, in forest. The biggest problem is growing number of the plastic refuse left in forests – plastic doesn’t decompose. And as the number of private houses and other building activities increases, also the problem of industrial and household waste left in forests is getting more painful. Every year JSC “Latvia’s state forests” takes off the forests about 6 thousand cubic meters of waste – it’s about 120 log trucks, full of garbage!
How did I start?
In July of 2005 JSC “Latvia’s state forests”, cooperating with Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Agriculture, started social campaign “Don’t litter the forest! You’ll turn into a pig!” to draw public’s attention to the refuse problem in forests. The main character of this campaign became Pigman (in Latvian – Cūkmens). From 2005 social campaign “Don’t litter the forest! You’ll turn into a pig!” draws public’s attention publishing informative materials on television and radio, also exposing posters in the streets and publishing information on written media. Pigman, personalizing polluters, goes to schools and children camps. Every year more and more public organizations, waste management companies and others want to get involved in this social campaign and be friends with Pigman.
To change public’s attitude – this is not exercise for one or two years, it’ll take a lot more time. That’s why every summer from 2005 JSC “Latvia’s state forests” actualize this social campaign against littering in forests, hoping for better and closer cooperation with all nature’s friends. Pigman will become a man again in that moment, when forests of Latvia will be free of waste!
Campaign has become a nation-wide movement with ever new participants joining it – the NGOs, enterprises, public organizations, municipalities, and government entities. During this time Cūkmens has met over 25,000 schoolchildren, attended more than 500 events of volunteer work in woodlands, on the roadsides and waters with over 10,000 m3 of waste gathered.
The campaign has also won recognition at the domestic and international competitions.
