World Environment Day, commemorated each year on 5 June, is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

The World Environment Day theme selected for 2005 is Green Cities and the slogan is Plan for the Planet!

Waste and recycling are huge problems in cities and the NGO Young Researchers of Serbia (YRS) decided to dedicate this year's World Environment Day celebrations to this issue. Infrastructure for primary waste separation, collection and recycling still doesn't exist in the capital of Serbia and Montenegro - Belgrade. Moreover, National waste management strategy is not known of or implemented yet.

Motivated by this fact, YRS are continuing their activities in raising public awareness on the need for reducing and recycling waste. During 2004, YRS had a permanent campaign consisting of several actions related to recycling promotion, and often linked with celebrations of important environmental dates. One of the basic concepts of sustainable development is ensuring a future for today's youth. This is why it was decided to include school children in this year's activities. During the month of May, pupils of a Belgrade primary school carried out a survey among their peers on the usage of packaging materials made of recyclables / non-recyclables. Several weeks prior to WED they also started collecting recyclables.

On 3 June WED celebrations included numerous activities in front of the school, starting at noon:

-Presentation of the survey's results, a short film directed by a YRS member especially for this purpose (ECO-address) and photos on negative impact of plastic bags on environment taken by schoolchildren.

-Selection of the best slogans on How to refuse a plastic bag in a shop?

-Workshops with schoolchildren on recycling (Creative workshops-painting glass jars; recyclables as toys: different games with plastic bags and plastic bottles; planting flowers in front of the school).

-Transport of the collected recyclables (by Belgrade's public utility company)

Around 300 children aged 11-14 participated in the workshops. Belgrade's city authorities, the UN resident representative and National Geographic Junior magazine also joined in the celebration.

These activities, relevant to the principles of sustainable development, are especially linked to Article 7c of the Convention on Biological diversity (identifying negative impacts on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity) and to the Ecosystem Approach Principles.