For the 13th time this year, DEHÖK’s Environmental Protection Committee organized the Garbage Collection in the Big Forrest event. This year’s event was an unusual one, with over 50 students.
On April 18, there was an event called Big CleanUp, which is considered a tradition, and which DEHÖK’s Environmental Protection Committee has been organizing for 13 years now. Pre-registered students could also receive a special RE-cup with the official logo of the even.
In the opening speech, committee member Lili Sztrehárszki said that the program will be changed this year: during the preliminary field trip, they found that after 13 years there is finally no garbage in the Big Forest, so instead of picking up garbage, the students could take part in a guided tour organized by Nyírerdő Zrt. conducted for them. The members of the Environmental Protection Committee consider it extremely important that both Hungarian and foreign students get to know nature and experience the love of the forest.
Zoltán Gencsi, the leader of the tour, welcomed the students at the column erected to commemorate the declaration of the Debrecen Forest as a protected area, which he said was a 150-year-old oak statue erected six years ago to commemorate the fact that the Debrecen Forest was the first protected area in Hungary.
After the morning warm-up tournament, the tour started from the site on Kartács Street, but on the road leading there, the environmental protection workers and the students who attended were already enthusiastically picking up the trash while walking.
Still, some waste was found in the forest, and a total of 4 bags were collected, and it was interesting – often even horrifying – to see how much waste was done on the side of the road, under trees or bushes.
After the two-and-a-half-hour tour, upon returning to the square between Kossuth Colleges, a raffle draw awaited the participants, and then they could enjoy a fake goulash at the Nagyerdei Restaurant.
It is certain that this event will always have a right to exist, not only at the university, but also in the city of Debrecen, but it is a nice trend that this year the students were able to focus more on the tour and the beauties of nature, instead of the garbage.
dehok.unideb.hu
Photos: Zsombor Petrovics
