1.5 million Norwegians have participated in voluntary clean-up drives, new survey shows

35% of Norwegians over the age of 15 have participated in one or more clean-up operations during the last ten years, a new survey shows.

“Ten years of voluntary clean-up efforts have helped put the spotlight on marine litter as an environmental problem and created a basis for a great willingness to work preventively locally, nationally, and internationally,” general manager Lise Keilty Gulbransen in the association Keep Norway Clean noted.

According to their survey, around 1.5 million Norwegians have contributed to clean-up work across the country in the last ten years. In 2020 alone, 4,100 clean-up operations were carried out in Norway, and 1,400 tonnes of rubbish were picked up, including ropes, plastic pellets, reinforcing fibers, styrofoam, and unidentifiable pieces of plastic.

Most clean-up operations were carried out in Nordland county, closely followed by Vestland in second place and Viken in third place. 

The campaign works specifically to remove marine litter, which is a major environmental problem in the world. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), every year, as much as 8 to 12 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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