Garbage Mountain in natural gem

Garbage along the Norwegian coast.Photo: Audun Braastad / NTB scanpix

Garbage Mountain in natural gem: – it is totally insane

– It’s totally insane. We build mountains of garbage, says Wenche Pedersen, Planning and Industry Manager in Berg municipality.

 

 

Last week, the municipality of Berg, in cooperation with the harbour of Senja, the open air council and the municipality of Torsken, launched a beach-side action on the outside of Senja, and it was not long before large amounts of rubbish were found in the scenic areas.

– Yes, it is extremely much. Huge, says Pedersen.

First, there were the islands in the Bergsfjord that were cleared, and in the weekend there was the shore-line from Hamn in Senja to Ballesvika, which was visited by the heroic cleaning squad. Nearly 20 people have participated in the action so far.

– It’s nice to do things that make sense, both for us who live here and for the tourists. We would like to have more hands involved in this, says Lasse Hoel, head of activity in Port of Senja.

Comes from afar

Last year, nearly 20 tonnes of garbage was cleared along the beaches of Berg, and it does not seem to be any less this year. Rather it is the opposite which is the fact.

– It is mostly plastic garbage, bottles and containers of all kinds. There are also a lot of yarn, ropes, blowers and other fishing related equipment. But we have also found car tires and other things, says Pedersen.

She believes most of the garbage has come floating from afar, brought north by the Gulf stream.

– We see this from the labels on the bottles. This comes with ocean currents from boats sailing on the big ocean. We see the global challenges locally, and they are big. Littering of the ocean is a major problem, she says.

© Nordlys /Norway Today