The aim of the litter study is to produce information about the sources of litter to support the planning of measures and campaigns to prevent littering. Littering was examined by collecting litter from the selected sites. The collected litter was sorted into different categories and reported according to the number of items.
Litter was collected from ten sites in stations and parks
The litter study collected so-called zero data, against which we can compare research results in the coming years. Ten sites were selected comprehensively from the entire Helsinki area. The sites were: Helsinki Central Railway Station, Herttoniemi and Vuosaari metro stations, Kannelmäki, Malmi and Pasila stations, as well as four parks: Alppipuisto, Alakivenpuisto, Kaarelanpuisto and Klaukkalanpuisto.
The samples were collected from each site from three 100-metre-long lines. All litter larger than 2.5 cm was picked up from the ground, including snuff pouches, cigarette butts and larger pieces of litter. The sorted litter was reported according to the number of items.
Tobacco products by far the most common litter
Cigarette butts are not only the most common litter in Helsinki and Finland, but the most common litter in the world. In Finland alone, billions of cigarette butts end up in nature every year. In addition, other tobacco products, such as snuff pouches, are increasingly ending up in nature.
Tobacco products accounted for more than 80% of the litter in four locations. At other sites, too, they accounted for more than half of the litter. Most of them were found at the stations. For example, 89% of all litter at Herttoniemi metro station was tobacco products, with the same number being 84% at Pasila station.
“We expected a lot of tobacco products. However, a figure of almost 90% was surprising. Many still do not think of cigarette butts as harmful plastic litter which often end ups in the sea through rainwater gullies and contains numerous substances harmful to organisms. We still have to engage in measures to prevent littering, for example, by influencing attitudes through information and improving sanitation,” summarises Litter Management Coordinator Laura Kotilainen from the City of Helsinki.
Helsinki tackles litter in a variety of ways
The City of Helsinki does its part by implementing and monitoring the implementation of the Waste Act and the Environmental Protection Act, supporting the organisation of community cleaning events and being involved in several national and international environmental protection programmes.
The litter survey is part of the City of Helsinki’s litter prevention work, which is being carried out,
among other things, through the Baltic Sea Challenge, BALTIPLAST and the Litter Control
Action Plan. The aim of the litter study is to produce information about the sources of litter to support the planning of measures and campaigns to prevent littering.
The study was commissioned by the City of Helsinki and conducted by Ramboll Finland Oy.
