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Participants of the environmental initiative Plastic Cup have removed approximately 70 tons of contamination from the river Tisza.
To avoid further pollution and to preserve restored areas in their favorable condition, international cooperation became more important than ever. The first steps include the monitoring of the entire river; to determine where the most heavily contaminated areas are; and to raise awareness among local communities.
The organizer of the Plastic Cup, Filmjungle.eu Society very recently got the assignment to do so.
On September 17, 2019, at the event of the International Business Forum “Partnerships for Greater Development Impact”, the Plastic Cup organizers received a solemn donation from the International Investment Bank (IIB). The EUR 50,000 grant was awarded for the "Clean Water, Happy Tisza" (Plastic Pollution Prevention Project (4P))!
‘The International Investment Bank, which moved its headquarters to Budapest in September, has become the only international investment bank in the region’, said the Hungarian Minister of Finance, Mihály Varga in his opening speech.
‘Sustainability is one of the Bank's core values and we attach great importance to the preservation of our natural values, which is why we support projects for this purpose from 2015,’ said Nikolay Kosov, IIB Chairperson of the Management Board at the inauguration ceremony. Previously, WWF's "The Water Risk Filter (WRF)" project received support from IIB, and this year it was initiated by the Filmjungle.eu Society's Plastic Cup. The symbolic check was handed over by the bank's president, Nikolay Kosov.
New steps for a cleaner Tisza
The Tisza River flows from Ukraine and Romania, and through Hungary touches Slovakia, and then joins the Danube in Serbia, completing its journey to the Black Sea through Romania. Therefore, the results of the project will hopefully have a positive impact on the protection of the riverine nature and wildlife of these countries and on the attitude of the people living in the area (3 of these countries are also members of the IIB).
‘The Clean Water, Happy Tisza project gives us the opportunity to map the Tisza from source to sea, alongside 5 countries, to conduct research and measurements,’ said Gergely Hankó, project manager of Plastic Cup, and the Managing Director of the Hungarian Association for Environmental Enterprises. ‘We will make the results of the 966km 4P Expedition and the results of the scientific survey accessible online and also share it on the ÖKOINDUSTRIA Green Expo, in November 2020’ - he added.
Another important element of the project, following the mapping of contaminated sites ("Waste Map"), is improving the online communication of the Plastic Cup initiative and making the website and a new application interactive. The site will serve educational and awareness-raising purposes with practical tips and solutions to reduce waste, and a free application will help paddlers, anglers, hikers and river basin residents get involved in nature conservation: they will be able to add new polluted areas to the database, or cleanup existing ones. Furthermore, users will receive useful tips and best practices on waste prevention and sustainable living.
The “Clean Water, Happy Tisza” project will start on October 2019 and will close in December 2020.
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