Announcements
Announcements
Plastic waste is polluting the Baltic sea and is a problem there just as much as it is in the rest of the world, needing to be addressed by politicians and industry chiefs alike, according to speakers at the recent EU Baltic Sea strategy meeting in Tallinn.
Plastic waste on the Baltic seabed/Plastprügi Läänemere põhjas. Photo: cleanbaltic.org/ERR
Speaking to ETV news show ‘Aktuaalne Kamera’, Harmen Spek, innovation manager at plastic pollution awareness body ‘Plastic Soup’, said that the problem of floating islands of plastic, or ‘plastic soup’, is rising and needs a change of thinking to be combatted.
Several more environmental organisations in Estonia and the Baltic region are on the case. A major initiative entitled ‘BLASTIC’, which started in 2016 and is aimed at establishing what kind of plastic and other garbage gets carried by streams, rives and floodwaters into the Baltic and in what quantities, is due to conclude in Autumn.
According to a spokesperson from the Tallinn office of international environmental non-profit research and policy organisation Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), a significant part of waste coming into the Baltic from Estonia is made up of isolation foam used in the construction industry.
”Surprisingly this formed a far bigger problem than in Finland or Sweden,” said Harri Moora from the SEI.
Project / BLASTIC (Plastic Waste Pathways into the Baltic Sea) aims to reduce plastic waste and hazardous substances by mapping and monitoring litter levels.
Feature / A new SEI Tallinn project aims to keep litter from urban areas from ending up in the water, where it harms wildlife, water quality, and human health.
Feature / The information boards installed on the changing cabins on Pirita beach in Tallinn, Estonia, provide information on the issue of plastic waste in the sea.
Design and development by Soapbox.
