Plastic Pollution in the Tisza River – Message in the Bottle

Local News University

Are you also fed up with plastics floating in our beloved River Tisza? Get inspired by this movie about PET Kupa (Plastic Cup), an amazing initiative to decrease plastic waste in the river and discuss your questions and thoughts on a range of topics from the 2000 cyanide spill to microplastics with an expert (György Rátfai from the Tisza District Water Directorate in Szolnok).

For a week from January 31 – to February 7, 2020 the US Embassies will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the devastating cyanide spill into the Tisza River.
On this occasion we would like to highlight the importance of guarding its natural value by screening the movie of “Plastic Pollution – Message in the Bottle – the official story of the Plastic Pirates” in the five Tisza River Basin countries including Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. The Tisza River is one of Europe’s most heavily polluted rivers by plastic and we wish to raise awareness on the magnitude of this problem and generate discussions on the way join forces and act for a healthier environment.

The 52- minute nature documentary will tell the story of the PLASTIC CUP initiative that was launched in 2013. Their volunteers called themselves “Plastic Pirates” and their idea was to build boats of collected plastic bottles then get onboard and gather plastic from the floodplain of the river. Each year 18-20 such boats are able to survey 80-100 km section of the upper Tisza in Hungary during the ten-day race. The past seven years the Plastic Pirates were able to thoroughly scope 200 km section of the Tisza River, remove 70 tons of garbage, and designate more than 400 pollution spots. The collected plastic bottles are recycled and even innovative products are created of them.

Please join us for seeing this inspiring and beautiful movie and the succeeding discussions with experts.

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