TeSzedd 2026 registration: volunteers can sign up from 8 September

TeSzedd 2026 registration opens on 8 September, according to an announcement by László Gajdos, Hungary’s minister responsible for the living environment. Volunteers can once again sign up for the country’s largest waste collection movement, whose action week runs from 12 to 18 October 2026. The news matters more than usual, because this spring – for the first time in the programme’s history – the campaign was not announced at all, making this effectively a relaunch.

This article covers what exactly the minister announced, how you can sign up, the difference between the coordinator and volunteer roles, and what first-time participants should know.

What did László Gajdos announce?

In a video posted on his social media page, the minister confirmed that sign-ups open on 8 September for the TeSzedd! – Voluntarily for a Clean Hungary campaign. The action week runs from 12 to 18 October 2026, with registration handled through szelektalok.hu.

The timing works in several ways: 12 October is a Monday and the 18th a Sunday, so a full week is available, including two weekend days. School groups find weekdays easier, while families and workplace teams can usually only move at the weekend – a Monday-to-Sunday window accommodates both. The autumn date also has a practical consequence: leaves are already falling in mid-October, so on deeper ditch banks and woodland edges it is worth collecting early in the week, while the waste is still visible.

Gajdos has led the environmental ministry – re-established as a standalone portfolio – since 13 May. At his parliamentary committee hearing he already signalled that well-functioning programmes, including TeSzedd! and environmental education initiatives, would not be dismantled. This announcement is the first concrete step in that direction.

The context gives the announcement additional weight. The usual April action week never started this spring: no information appeared on the teszedd.hu site, no advance sign-up opened, and in March a written parliamentary question was submitted to the then energy minister about the gap. The movement is therefore restarting after a missed season – and doing so in autumn, which is not unprecedented: in 2021 the action week ran from 18 to 24 October, with sign-ups opening on 20 September.

TeSzedd 2026 registration: when and where to sign up

The process follows the practice of previous years. TeSzedd 2026 registration runs through szelektalok.hu, the site shown in the announcement video, where coordinators create their own accounts to publish meeting points and volunteers pick from the points already listed.

One thing is worth knowing before you try in vain: the registration platform was not yet live on the day of the announcement. The familiar regisztracio.szelektalok.hu address redirects to teszedd.neuzrt.hu, where a single sentence greets visitors: the site is under maintenance, please come back later. This is not a browser problem on your end, and it doesn’t mean the announcement was wrong – the platform simply isn’t ready to accept sign-ups yet.

What to do in the meantime: don’t give up after one attempt. Check back in a few days, and use the time for preparation – choosing a site and organising your team works perfectly well without the platform.

Things worth sorting out early:

• Don’t wait for the deadline. Once coordinator registration closes, no new meeting point can be created, and volunteers can only join existing ones. If nobody in your area announces a site, you are the person without whom no collection will happen.
• Agree on the location in advance. Collection can take place on both public and private land; the latter requires the owner’s consent.
• Check who else would collect. A school class, a workplace team, a sports club, a residential community – most successful sites are built on an existing community rather than a recruitment campaign.

Coordinator or volunteer – what’s the difference?

There are two ways to join, and the workload is very different.

As a volunteer you pick an already published meeting point, show up at the stated time, sign the attendance sheet, collect your equipment and get to work. That’s it. If you simply want to take part, this is the route.

As a coordinator you are the one publishing the meeting point: you choose the location and time, give a short briefing on the process and safety rules before collection starts, hand out gloves, bags and ties, and make sure the full, sealed bags end up at a designated spot that is accessible along a paved road. Transport isn’t your job, but the logistics of gathering the bags are.

One practical detail many people get wrong: the meeting point and the collection site don’t have to be identical, but they should be close together. If the team has to walk twenty minutes to the site, most of the enthusiasm is spent before the work begins.

What can and cannot be collected?

The rule is simple: anything that can be safely picked up by hand while wearing gloves – primarily household-type waste. This is also the bulk of illegally dumped rubbish: bottles, packaging, cans, bags.

What not to touch:

• construction and demolition waste
• medicines
• electrical and electronic equipment
• tyres
• furniture
• biowaste

If you find any of these on site, it isn’t something the campaign is meant to solve: notify the competent local authority, or report it through the HulladékRadar (Waste Radar) app. That report does real work – clearing illegal dumps depends on reports, not on volunteer enthusiasm alone.

The numbers: what the movement has delivered so far

TeSzedd! launched in 2013 and grew within a few years into Hungary’s largest voluntary environmental event.

• 2019: close to a quarter of a million participants, 3,240 sites, roughly 2,400 tonnes of waste collected. Nearly 1,100 educational institutions, 800 civil society organisations, 600 public administration bodies and 600 private initiatives took part.
• 2024 (12th edition): 22–28 April, 2,200 sites nationwide, close to 1,800 tonnes of waste.
• 2025 (13th edition): 7–13 April, around 2,300 sites, over one hundred thousand participants, with educational institutions helping at more than 700 sites.

The figures come with an important caveat: tonnage measures how much waste ended up illegally in the environment, not how much cleaner the country became. The success of a well-run TeSzedd! week and a genuine decline in illegal dumping are two different metrics – we have been good at the first for years, and not at the second.

How to prepare for the collection

A few things that matter especially for an autumn campaign:

• Dress for the ground, not the air temperature. In autumn the real challenge is wet, slippery leaf litter and muddy ditch banks. Closed, sturdy-soled footwear is essential.
• Check the forecast, but don’t fear the rain. Organisers recommend HungaroMet data; for coordinators, the Meteora app, which also flags alerts that could endanger outdoor collection.
• If it’s drizzling, still go to the meeting point. It may not be raining at the collection site, and the team can decide together on the spot whether to proceed or set a rain date – the latter only within the action week itself.
• If it’s pouring, stay home. Coordinate with your coordinator by phone or email instead.
• For secondary school students: participation counts towards mandatory community service, so it isn’t extra time spent but hours completed.

Why this is more than a weekend litter pick

On a waste management portal it’s hard to resist the question: is voluntary collection really the best tool? On its own, no. A tonne of bottles pulled out of a ditch doesn’t prevent the next tonne, and systemic solutions – a functioning deposit return scheme, a predictable public service, real deterrence against illegal dumping – cannot be replaced by volunteer labour. International research increasingly points the same way: prevention rather than treatment is the only scalable route.

But TeSzedd! delivers something no regulation can produce: once you’ve personally dragged a bag of rubbish out of a woodland edge, you no longer look the same way at a coffee cup thrown from a car window. Awareness-raising isn’t a by-product here, it’s the substantive result – particularly with school groups, where hundreds of children experience at once how much work follows from a few seconds of careless throwing.

That’s why signing up this year is worth it, and why it’s worth volunteering as a coordinator wherever nobody else would announce a site.

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Frequently asked questions about TeSzedd 2026 registration

When does TeSzedd 2026 registration open?

TeSzedd 2026 registration opens on 8 September, according to minister László Gajdos, and sign-ups run through szelektalok.hu. The action week itself takes place from 12 to 18 October 2026. Coordinators can publish meeting points, while volunteers join points that have already been listed.

Why is the TeSzedd registration page unavailable?

On the day of the announcement the registration platform was not yet live: the familiar regisztracio.szelektalok.hu address redirects to teszedd.neuzrt.hu, where visitors are met with a maintenance notice. This is not an error on the user’s side but a system migration in progress, so it is worth opening the page again in a few days.

What is the difference between a coordinator and a volunteer?

The coordinator publishes the meeting point: they choose the location and time, brief participants on safety rules, hand out gloves, bags and ties, and make sure full bags reach the designated collection spot. A volunteer simply joins an already published meeting point, signs the attendance sheet, picks up the equipment and collects waste.

What kind of waste can be collected during the campaign?

Anything that can be safely picked up by hand while wearing gloves, meaning mostly household-type waste: bottles, packaging, cans and bags. Construction and demolition waste, medicines, electrical and electronic equipment, tyres, furniture and biowaste must not be collected. In those cases notify the local authority or file a report through the HulladékRadar app.

Does participation count towards community service?

Yes, participation counts towards the mandatory community service of secondary school students, so time spent collecting waste is credited against required hours. This is one reason educational institutions have mobilised the most volunteers for years: in 2025 school groups helped out at more than 700 sites nationwide.

Why was there no TeSzedd! campaign in spring 2026?

The usual April action week did not take place in spring 2026: no information appeared on the teszedd.hu website and no advance sign-up opened. Because of the gap, a written parliamentary question was submitted to the then energy minister in March. The newly announced autumn campaign is therefore a relaunch after a missed season.

What should you do if it rains on the day?

If it is only drizzling, go to the meeting point anyway, since it may not be raining at the collection site and the team can decide together whether to proceed. In heavier rain, stay home and coordinate by phone or email instead. A rain date can only be set within the action week.

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Related reading on dontwasteit.hu:

• Registration opens for this year’s TeSzedd! collection campaign (2021)
• TeSzedd! returns – registration open (2022)
• HulladékRadar app goes fully live
• Environmental fines rise significantly
• Reuse and deposit return as the answer to waste prevention

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