When the volunteers of the “Kyiv, clean” initiative go out on a mission against a thick layer of dirt tarnishing the capital’s public spaces, they scrub and wash for hours.
“Until our hands start to fidget,” the project’s founder, Vitaliy Onoprienko, told the Kyiv Post.
The initiative, which was formed a bit over a month ago, brought together about 10 volunteers united by the desire to beautify the city.
Supplied with powerful washing equipment, they have so far cleaned up three of the busiest and filthiest spots in the city center. And they have no intention to stop.
Although local public utility companies are supposed to take care of parks, streets and other common spaces, their employees often lack modern equipment capable of vanquishing layers of dirt.
That’s where “Kyiv, clean” and their high-pressure machines come in handy.
Start
Entrepreneur Onoprienko, 34, came up with the name for the initiative last fall before it even formed into a complete idea.
“Kyiv, clean” in Ukrainian (Kyieve, myi) sounds almost identical to part of the title of a song about the Ukrainian capital. Called “How can I not love you, my Kyiv!” the tune has been the city’s official anthem since 2014.
Onoprienko came up with the project when two pieces of knowledge merged into one in his head: first, the issue of dirt in central Kyiv and, second, the American obsession with power washing.
He says that there’s a whole community on Reddit where people, mostly from the United States, post videos of power washing: cleaning of all kinds of objects and surfaces with high-pressure machines. Onoprienko was among those who enjoyed watching the satisfying process of extremely stained things turning shiny and clean again.
It took Onoprienko around half a year before he had a spare 1,000 euros to buy a machine and other necessary equipment. Then he asked friends on social media to join and they went on their first cleaning in late May.
The volunteer group includes people of all professions. All are 25-35 years old.
“They are united by nothing but a youth, maybe naivete and a belief that the city can become better,” Onoprienko says.
Their first pick was Lva Tolstoho Square, right outside the metro station of the same name. A common meet-up spot, the square is often crowded with people smoking, chatting, eating and drinking.
The location also had what was essential for cleaning, a water source, to which the initiative received access to from the local McDonalds.
They started at 6 a.m. and finished 10 hours later, having cleaned layers of dust, pollution and chewing gum from the walls and ground in the area around the metro station — both above and below ground.
They expected to get tired after hours of work. What they didn’t see coming was being reported to the police.
Onoprienko says that a representative of the district utility service called the police claiming they were concerned that the group could be using chemicals that could damage the area. However, according to Onoprienko, the utility service didn’t seek dialogue and went straight to law enforcement.
Onoprienko says they were surprised that the utilities didn’t care when the area was in dire condition, but got concerned when it was finally being cleaned.
“It’s just hypocrisy,” he said.
Nevertheless, the volunteers were so satisfied with the result that they decided to continue their project.
The volunteers of the “Kyiv, clean” initiative use a high-pressure washer to clean the stairs in the underground passage near the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) metro station on June 27, 2020, in Kyiv.
Community
Public support has only further reassured the volunteers.
As soon as the group decided the initiative would continue, Onoprienko created a Facebook page to report on their activities and get the local community involved. A chestnut leaf (one of Kyiv’s symbols) with dirt dropping down from it became the initiative’s logo on social media.
People’s reaction was overwhelming, Onoprienko says. They expressed support in comments, reposted their videos and donated money.
Since the start of the initiative, the volunteers have crowdfunded around Hr 45,000 ($1,650), which they used to buy protective gear, hoses, gas, chemicals and washcloths.
The project also grabbed the attention of local businesses, who wanted to collaborate by giving access to water in their locations for the volunteers to clean up some areas nearby.
The initiative washed a distinctively dirty arch on Pushkinska Street at the invitation of the neighboring Urban Space 500 restaurant and the underground passages on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in collaboration with the Globus shopping mall.
They also returned to Lva Tolstoho Square to finish what they didn’t have time for the first time.
The volunteers sometimes work at night, as the flow of people in busy spots gets so intense that it’s difficult to clean during the day.
Onoprienko says that washing alone is not that exhausting — packing equipment into a car, delivering it and bringing it to the cleaning site adds a whole other burden to the process. Yet the community’s encouragement gives the group strength to keep going.
“When you receive such feedback, the fatigue vanishes as if by magic,” Onoprienko says.
Goals
Although the volunteers are happy overall with the results of their cleaning, they also encountered some issues that reach far beyond their current expertise.
As they did the washing, the group discovered that many surfaces might just crumble under the high-pressure water flow, as many places need not only cleaning, but also renovations and sometimes reconstruction.
“Everything is just falling apart,” Onoprienko says. “It needs to be replaced.”
When they cleaned the passages under Independence Square, for instance, the group learned that the square’s fountains leak and damage the ceiling.
Having discovered that, Onoprienko says he is considering creating another branch of the initiative called “Kyiv, renovate.” That branch would focus on small repairs like painting and laying paving slabs.
“Kyiv needs renovation,’ he says.
As for now, however, the initiative focuses on continuing its fight with dirt. They hope that businesses will continue helping them find locations that need cleaning and will keep providing them with access to water.
Onoprienko says they aim to get the city center cleaned up for starters. For that, they want to expand their equipment to 10 power washing machines.
“Then we would be able to clean all the arches and underground passages,” he says.
