NICOSIA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Schoolchildren and their parents from around Cyprus gathered here Saturday to sort and bale more than 350 kg of cans for recycling as their way to mark the International Day of Climate Action.

    The event, one of more than 5,200 rallies in some 181 countries, was coordinated by 350.org to urge world leaders to take immediate steps to address climate change and reduce carbon emission.

    The event was held at Nicosia Municipality sanitary compound, the recycling center of Cans For Kids, a Cyprus NGO founded in 1990 which aims to promote environmental awareness by encouraging people to save aluminium cans for recycling.

    "There's no doubt now that the citizens of Cyprus want to see real action from the world on global warming before the problem gets any worse," said Cans For Kids Vice-President Rosie Charalambous.

    Nicosia's Mayor, Eleni Mavrou, and the Head of the European Commission Representation in Cyprus, Androulla Kaminara also joined the group to show their support.

    The target was to recycle 350 kg, or about 18,250 cans, in two hours.

    "It's just incredible," said Charalambous. "We've well exceeded our 350 kilos target."

    As an incentive to get people recycling, profits from the sale of aluminium are used to buy medical equipment for a central paediatric hospital in Nicosia.

    To date, more than 250,000 euro (375,000 U.S. dollars) worth of equipment has been donated to the hospital.

    The 350.org is a large-scale global grassroots campaign aimed at curbing climate change.