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s thousands cheered for the spectacular opening ceremony of the 2018 Asian Games at the Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) stadium in Jakarta on Saturday evening, hundreds of young people were busy outside, picking up trash to make sure the main venue remains in spotless condition.

Carrying trash bags and message boards promoting environment awareness, they had one mission in mind: to help make the multisport event a success by keeping the environment clean, especially around the sports venues.

Some 200 volunteers from community group Indorelawan, which offers volunteering activities for various causes, were among those hunched down picking up trash scattered around the stadium complex. While cleaning, they also encouraged bystanders to take steps in keeping the environment clean.

“We stayed from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. [on Saturday] and collected hundreds of bags of trash, most of which was plastic food packaging, plastic bags and plastic bottles,” Indorelawan executive director Maritta Rastuti told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The volunteers, aged 15 to 18, were full of enthusiasm as they went about their task amid the blaring sound of fireworks emerging from the arena during the opening ceremony.

Young members of the minority Ahmadiyah community carried out similar activities. Under their environmental movement called “Clean the City”, some 100 volunteers of the oppressed Islamic community enthusiastically cleaned the area around GBK gates 5, 6 and 7.

Ahmadiyah spokesman Yendra Budiana said the CTC movement had kicked off a week ago, when the volunteers joined cleaning activities at Patriot Candrabaga Stadium in Bekasi, West Java, during the soccer match of Indonesia against Chinese Taipei, which the Indonesian team won 4-0.

“Our mission is to collaborate with the local janitors, easing their job as the spectators litter the area while at the same time reminding them to keep our environment clean,” Yendra told the Post.

Both CTC and Indorelawan plan to continue their clean-up programs until the end of the event on Sept. 2.

CTC plans to focus on cleaning up venues of five sports, namely soccer, volleyball, basketball, badminton and athletics, which are located in three cities — Jakarta, Bekasi and Bandung in West Java.

“There are at least 1,000 volunteers from the three cities who are ready to be deployed at the sport venues. They come from CTC branches in the respective cities,” Yendra said.

Indorelawan, meanwhile, aims to work with 4,000 volunteers by the end of the sport event. The non-governmental organization still offers opportunities for anyone willing to take part in the cleaning activities of the historic event.

Maritta added that those interested in joining the action could apply at indorelawan.org. They would only need to fill in the form on #KontingenKebaikan Asian Games, a page where they could choose to join the clean-up activities at GBK or at sports venues of JIEXPO Kemayoran in Central Jakarta.

The Jakarta Environment Agency, for its part, has deployed 1,000 of its Public Facility Maintenance Agency (PPSU) personnel, better known as the “orange troops”, to help maintaining cleanliness.

The agency will also provide 25 portable toilets, two toilet buses for people with disabilities, 10 water tanks, 16 garbage trucks, 100 motorcycles equipped with trash cans and 450 garbage bins in order to keep the capital city clean during the international sporting events.