Pet Cup, whoever collects the most waste wins:this is how Hungary cleans the Tisza river

Great success for the 2024 edition of the competition promoted by the Pet Kupa association:370 competitors collected 7.5 tons of waste.

• The 2024 edition of the Pet Cup, on the banks of the Tisza river, collected 2320 bags of waste, mainly plastic bottles.
• The association of the same name, since 2013, with this competition has found a way to keep the waters of the Danube tributary clean and raise awareness among the population.
• Last weekend, 370 participants took part in the competition, including many children, divided into 19 teams.

Beyond seven tons of plastic waste were collected along 70 kilometers of the Tisza river in Hungary (sometimes known in Italian as Tisza) in the stretch between the towns of Tiszafüred and Dinnyéshát, as part of a cleaning competition that has now become traditional, called Pet Cup, from the name of the polyethylene bottles that now invade the river basin of the left tributary of the Danube. Pet Kupa, or Pet Cup in Hungarian, is also the name of the environmental association that has been organizing the event for ten years now.

As many as 19 teams, known as Pet Pirates, they navigated the waterway in the south-east of the country using kayaks and improvised boats to collect waste:a real competition lasting three days whose objective was to collect as much waste as possible to win the coveted Pet Cup.Of the 370 participants, about the 20 percent were children of all ages, starting from primary school students.And the competition had its prologue on 27 June with the construction in the Morotva cycling park in Tiszafüred of the same boats used for the race, which were then dismantled at the end of the competitions to recover the materials.The victory was won by the MBH Bank team, one of the many sponsors of the initiative, followed by Decathlon, (which however won the prize for the highest number of waste collected per person) and by Siemens Energy, which was at absolute debut in the competition.But as the organizers write, this is one of those competitions in which we can say that "everyone won".

The history of the Pet Cup and the pollution of Tisza

The Pet Cup began in 2013, with the aim of freeing Hungary's magnificent natural wonders from waste:the initiative, of which 5 editions have been held since then, involves volunteers and athletes and over the last decade has contributed to raising public awareness of the importance of conserving lakes and waterways and responsible waste management.In the edition that took place last weekend, over three days, 2320 bags of waste from the 19 teams “competing” along the shores of Lake Tisza.Among the waste collected there were also record-breaking objects such as a abandoned refrigerator, tires and chairs.

Pollution of the Tisza River has had significant effects on the environment and aquatic life in the region.In 2000, an environmental disaster has struck the river when a gold mine tailings dam in Romania broke, releasing more 100 thousand cubic meters of toxic waste in the tributary rivers of the Tisza.This waste contained high concentrations of cyanide and heavy metals, which caused damage for hundreds of kilometers downstream.Pollution has compromised water supplies and created diplomatic tensions between Romania and Hungary.But in addition to toxic substances, the Tisza has also been invaded in recent decades by "normal" plastic, with bottles and bags floating in the river and damaging aquatic life.

The route of the race remained unchanged compared to last year's edition, explain the Pet Cup association, "so it was even more disheartening to see the reed beds and the floodplain covered with waste, given that a year ago the teams had already left behind him a cleaner Tisza.However, until waste management in Transcarpathia begins to develop significantly – almost 200 settlements do not have waste transportation – until then, unfortunately, the supply of waste will be guaranteed every year”.However, thanks to the association's international cross-border projects, and also thanks to the Pet Cup, in the last two years it has been possible to increase the efficiency of local entrepreneurs and waste treatment plants and reach children through training programs.