Nico

I am Nico van Paridon. I started the campaign Ik-Prik-Mee, meaning Join A Clean Sweep, in the summer of 2007. As an amateur runner he runs his weekly rounds on the Bussum Heath. Yet, I was getting annoyed at all the caboodle that he saw, like tin cans, soft drink bottles, sweets wrappers, and even worse. However, I have put my annoyance into action and on his laps he started to pick up litter. Armed with a plastic refuse bag and a simple pair of kitchen tongs he picked up all trash that he stumbles across. Every week I emptie a big plastic bag full of garbage into his rubbish bin. Already soon after I begun picking up litter on the Bussum Heath walkers talked to me saying that they thought I did a great job by his actions, and that they should join him, and this is how the campaign actually started. This gave me the idea to promote making a clean sweep, however not only in Bussum, but also in the Netherlands nationwide. Ik-Prik-Mee (http://www.ikprikmee.nl) now encourages people to adopt their round on the heath or in the woods or the park and tidy up, for instance once a week or once a month. It means voluntary work that costs only little time that you can begin at any moment and tempo. This picking up project appeals to everyone: hikers, holiday-makers, Nordic Walkers and people walking the dog.