Bela Szandelszky of AP News writes on the efforts of Hungarian volunteers to clean up the country’s rivers.
- Hungarian volunteers have organized a trash pickup event called the Plastic Cup competition which awards money to people that collect the most trash out of the Tisza and surrounding rivers each year.
- Since its launch in 2013, the 10 day event has led to the removal of over 727,000 pounds of waste from Hungary’s waterways.
- This initiative is a good example of bottom up solutions addressing serious environmental challenges.
“The volunteers, who camp in a new spot each night as they make their way downriver, collect an average of 70 tons (around 154,000 pounds) of waste from the Tisza each year. The group estimates it has removed nearly 4 million plastic bottles from Hungarian waterways, and all recyclable materials — around 60% of what they collect — is sent to recycling facilities for processing, while the rest is transported to landfills.”
Read the full article here.
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