Litter and abandoned waste are often a sign of something deeper: a growing disconnect between people and the places they live in. Many people, young people especially, want to do something about it but rarely find a concrete, practical way in. Creating real opportunities for active participation turns that willingness into action, improving the environment while also strengthening people's sense of belonging to their own community.
The project
10ksteps4future runs clean-up and awareness activities across nine Italian regions, Lombardy, Tuscany, Puglia, Liguria, Campania, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna, Abruzzo and Marche, working in urban areas, parks, waterways and other public spaces affected by littering. Volunteers, students, teachers and citizens take part directly, transforming a shared, everyday gesture, picking up litter, into a visible and measurable form of environmental protection.
The project brings together environmental education, inclusion and volunteering, building shared responsibility for common spaces and a stronger, more resilient sense of community. Its approach rests on giving participants real autonomy and turning small, everyday actions into an impact that can be seen and measured over time, whether through kilograms of waste collected, areas cleaned, or the number of students and citizens actively involved.
Who the project is for
The project's direct beneficiaries are the volunteers, students, teachers and citizens who take part in the clean-up and awareness activities themselves.
Its impact reaches further, to the local communities that benefit from cleaner, safer public spaces, and to the wider online community reached through the project's environmental awareness content.
Project name: 10KSTEPS4FUTURE APS
Proposing organisation: 10KSTEPS4FUTURE
Area of intervention: Environment & Sustainable Communities
Country: Italy