The mayor of Tallinn, Mihhail Kõlvart, noted that according to the report of The

Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), 80% of the litter

ending up in the Baltic Sea comes from the land areas. „It is carried to the sea from

the rivers, storm drain systems, wind and the people visiting beaches. It may come

as a surprise for many, but the cigarette filters are the most prevalent plastic waste

in the Baltic Sea. Moreover, it is the biggest plastic waste issue in the world. One

cigarette butt might poison 1000 litres of water and sadly, they are not

biodegradable. This type of pollution is a direct threat to human health as well –

inevitably, it ends up in the food chain,“ said Kõlvart.

„Although waste sorting is mandatory in Estonia, the wellbeing of nature should be

our top priority in itself and that is why we should not forget to recycle. That is one

of the very real thing everyone can do in order to make sure that the generations to

come get to enjoy the nature as we know it. It should be an inseparable part of our

culture – to take everything we bring to nature back with us once we leave, this

includes garbage left by others.”

The CEO of the Port of Tallinn, Valdo Kalm, said that each year about 10 million

passengers move through the Old Harbour and sadly, there are a lot of cigarette

filters and other small forms of litter in the harbour area. The cigarette butts are

often thrown directly to the sea from the ships as well. „The cigarette butts tossed

on the ground will also sooner or later end up in the sea – either by the wind or the

stormwater. We have more than 700 stormwater drains just here, in the Old

Harbour premises. Clean Baltic Sea is one of the priorities of the Port of Tallinn

and including to partnering with this campaing, we have done other investments as

well – the waste that comes to our port from the ships is sent to circular use and

soon we will begin with connecting the ships residing here to the shore power

system and will will also install automatic mooring devices.“

In order to tackle the cigarette butts’ issue, many activities are planned. The

campaign will peak September 19, on the World Cleanup Day 2020 which also

focuses on the problem of small piece litter and cigarette filters this year. Find more

information at https://www.worldcleanupday.org/.

The global call and media centre of the World Cleanup Day 2020 is located in the

briefing centre of the Tallinn City Government this year, located near the Freedom

Square. From here, the World Cleanup activities will be coordinated September 18-

20.

Tallinn is one of the four finalists still in the competition for the title of the

European Green Capital 2022. This year, 18 cities from across Europe ran for the

title and Tallinn (EST), Grenoble (FRA), Dijon (FRA) and Turin (ITA) are in the

final stage of the award process. The finalists will present their vision of the 2022

programme to the jury on October 8 in Lisbon. More information of Tallinn’s

participation can be found at www.tallinn2022.ee.