The young Zacarías Farber turned a personal environmental challenge into a movement that changed the habits of an entire city.
For 360 days, this young man from Catamarca went out to collect a bag of waste daily, viralized his message on social media, and managed to get hundreds of people to join his cause.
On January 6, he began his challenge: collecting garbage every day of the year with a large trash bag and gloves.
Finally, what started as a solitary project ended up becoming a lesson in discipline and environmental awareness.
From an Environmental Challenge to Citizen Action
Zacarías was born in Spain and came to Catamarca at the age of 11 with his mother Anette Kern and his brother.
His mother, who passed away in 2023, was a craftswoman and instilled in him from a young age the care for the environment.
The inspiration for the environmental challenge came from the juggling challenge by creator Gero Arias.
“Many young people were greatly impacted, it was an example of inspiration and overcoming,” Zacarías explained in an interview with TN.
“I wanted to be as original as possible. My mom always taught me about environmental care when I was a kid,” he told the media.
Thus, one night with friends sparked the idea: “It occurred to me while talking with friends to start a challenge and I said ‘a bag of garbage for each day of the year’, and I liked it,” he told TN.
The Green Routine That Transformed a City
Thus, every day after work, Zacarías went out to collect waste.
A friend helped him by recording, while he took care of collecting the garbage and editing the videos for social media.
After months, his videos went viral and thousands of people began to follow his daily environmental challenge.
The motivation transcended the screens: Zacarías began organizing clean-up events at different points in Catamarca.
“It reaffirms conviction, faith, and shows that sometimes beautiful things happen on social media,” he commented to TN.
Although Zacarías admitted that he was initially reluctant to the digital world, he later understood its potential as a tool for change.
An Environmental Challenge with Personal and Social Impact
Citizen support was reflected in the cleaning of emblematic places such as the El Jumeal Dam.
“I feel like I’m not alone. There are people who expect to see the video of the day and, if I didn’t do it, it would be failing them and myself,” he confessed to TN.
During the environmental challenge, Zacarías continued working, discovered his vocation for digital businesses, and maintained his dedication to music and sports.
Now, the last event of the year will be on December 1st to clean the El Jumeal Dam again.
“It’s very touristy here in Catamarca and it always gets dirty again. Where I clean, people go and throw garbage again,” he stated.
The Message That Changed Habits
For Zacarías, the true achievement of the environmental challenge was generating collective awareness. The young man even received messages from people who stopped littering thanks to his example.
Therefore, his request is direct: “Don’t litter anymore”. For this young man, an individual action can trigger a collective change.
Main achievements of the challenge:
- 360 bags of waste collected
- Videos went viral on social media
- Massive citizen events
- Cleaning of emblematic tourist spaces
- Change of habits in the community
Once the 360 days are completed, Zacarías plans to continue organizing events and explore new ways to raise environmental awareness.
He dreams of taking his initiative to other cities and growing as a content creator.
