There are days after which you return tired, but with the feeling that the exhaustion was worth every second. The day we spent with the Coca-Cola HBC Serbia team on Great War Island was exactly like that.

The island is home to over one hundred and thirty bird species, as well as wild boars, jackals, and foxes. It is a place where time is measured quite differently than in the city, without noise, without shops, surrounded exclusively by greenery and a silence that rarely exists so close to the center of Belgrade.

The morning greeted us with rain, but that did not dampen the team’s will to get the job done right. We reached the island by fleet, slowly waking up over breakfast and coffee, divided into teams, and set off—each group in its own boat—toward the hard-to-reach parts of the island. It was precisely these remote areas that presented the greatest challenge. Places where waste has been accumulating for years, not because no one visits them, but because few ever reach them.

And that is where the real problem arises. A space that does not receive enough attention remains forgotten, and waste lingers in it much longer than we would assume.

The island’s inhabitants welcomed us with smiles and for a moment showed us what life looks like in the rhythm of nature, rather than the rhythm of the city. It was a reminder that nature does not ask much of us. It only asks for a little more attention and responsibility than we usually give it.

The Coca-Cola HBC Serbia team carried out the action with dedication from the first to the last moment, despite the weather conditions and terrain that is not always easy to work on. Their energy and commitment were visible in every detail, from the organization of the teams to the last bag of collected waste.

At the end of the day, the island was visibly cleaner than we found it. But what remains most valuable is not just the cleanliness we left behind, but the awareness that small, consistent actions, carried out with the right people, truly make a difference.