A two-year study by the NGO Keep the Archipelago Tidy found that differences were particularly stark in city beaches bordering the Baltic. Coastal areas near Finnish cities tend to have a lot of plastic, disposable coffee cups and food wrappers.
“Eating out generates a lot of garbage. Coffee cups, food wrappers, forks, knives. Everything associated with eating on the move,” said project manager Hanna Haaksi.
The EU-funded study examined the condition of nine beaches in Finland, chosen because they represented certain types of shore areas: urban or non-urban beaches and varying versions of both types. As part of the two-year study the project team cleaned 20 beaches.
Bottles and balloons clutter the archipelago
The study showed a marked difference between non-urban and urban beaches. Non-urban beaches were found to be strewn with empty bottles and cans, which did not feature as frequently on city strands.
“The bottles we found were always unredeemable. So the deposit system is very effective in encouraging people to gather and return bottles,” Haaksi speculated.
The researchers also found many other types of garbage that had been dumped at sea and had drifted back onto the beaches. In the outer archipelago cleaners encountered even stranger types of refuse.
“We have found a toilet seat and a toilet brush and its holder. We’ve also seen lots of balloons,” she added.
An unpleasant surprise
The researchers also scoured beaches in Sweden, Estonia and Latvia in their maiden investigation of littering on Baltic beaches. A comparison revealed an unpleasant fact about Finnish beaches.
“We were really surprised. We assumed that of course Finnish beaches are clean,” Haaksi explained.
She pointed out that the study did not factor in Finland’s fragmented archipelago or the impact of marine currents in washing up trash on shorelines.
“We have a lot of islands and shorelines that act as a kind of sump. So a lot of garbage can collect here without being washed away. Latvia and Estonia have more longer stretches where garbage can be washed away,” Haaksi noted.
Garbage disposal should be easy
Some 75 percent of the trash removed from Finnish beaches was plastic waste. Plastic accounted for 62 percent of the trash found on all of the beaches combined.
“The research strongly suggests that what’s driving littering on beaches and in the sea is the modern take away culture or a disposable lifestyle and the increasing use of plastic,” Haaksi declared.
In addition to municipal responsibility, she stressed the importance of personal ecological choices in reducing littering.
“There should be enough garbage disposal units and they should be large enough. We have to make it extremely easy for people. People shouldn’t have to look for a garbage can,” she concluded.
