PET pirates take to the water again to clean up Lake Tisza

This year, unlike previous years, there was no major flood wave on the Tisza, and preliminary waste monitoring and river cleaning campaigns did not reveal any significant pet mines, yet the reeds, difficult-to-reach, zigzag islands of Lake Tisza hid a huge amount of waste. Many could not believe their eyes at how much garbage they were greeted with, despite the fact that the river is cleared of several tons of waste every year. The characteristic popping sound heard from the reeds – which is not the sound of wildlife, but the crackling sound of plastic expanding and contracting when heated or cooled – is already well known to Henkel’s volunteer employees, who have been participating in the Tisza River Cleaning Derby with teams of 15-20 people almost since the beginning, every year.

“At Henkel, sustainability is a core corporate value, which is why we always represent our company wholeheartedly at the PET Cup. As one of the oldest committed corporate supporters of the initiative, we participate not only with financial contributions, but also with an enthusiastic, volunteer team. New colleagues join every year, but many are returning PET pirates. We set out for this year’s competition based on the experiences of previous years and managed to collect 750 kg of waste. Although we finished in 11th place with this result, we still left the lake with the good feeling of knowing that we made a small piece of nature much cleaner. Ábel Török also joined our team for a day, who also reported on the event on his own social media channel”

– said Viktória Szirmák-Szabó, Senior Brand Manager, captain of the Henkel Hungary volunteer team.

Although 19 teams participated in the Lake Tisza PET Cup in 2024, the result was “only” 7.5 tons, according to waste experts, the reason for this year’s record of more than 10 tons may be that more accurate measurements are used, as well as the spectacular increase in the amount of glass bottles, which also increased the mass of waste. Some of the waste collected by the teams was sorted on site (glass, metal, caps, light bulbs, HDPE/LDPE, PET bottles by color, into communal and large-piece categories), and a large portion can be recycled. The partners of the PET Cup took an active role in the further sorting and processing of the waste. Thanks to this, nearly half of the waste can be kept in circulation and given a new life as valuable secondary raw materials.

The PET Cup, in addition to being a competition, is also a kind of educational and community-building event, which proves year after year that sport, volunteerism and commitment to nature can achieve change. The initiative, which started in 2013, has now grown into an international environmental movement. The PET Cup Association is constantly working to ensure that the waste problem can be addressed not only through local but also international cooperation, especially in order to curb waste coming from upstream regions, including Transcarpathia.