The City of Helsinki's voluntary park pal activities give city residents the opportunity to participate in looking after their own living environment. Tuula Syrjälä has been a park pal in Vuosaari for more than eight years. She can easily take care of voluntary litter collection on the way to the store or on a walk in the vicinity.
Interested in taking care of your local environment? The City of Helsinki’s park pal activities give city residents the opportunity to participate in improving the pleasantness of their district and do small environmental activities, such as collecting litter or weeding alien species. Park pals can also focus on maintaining dog parks.
As a park pal, you can leave your handprint on the cityscape, spend time outdoors and meet new people. The park pals operate independently or under guidance in the city’s green areas. Park pal activities are guided by the volunteer work coordinator and regional park pal instructors.
Tuula Syrjälä from Vuosaari has been a park pal since 2016. Even before this, Tuula participated in various environmental activities, but was not actively involved in park pal activities.
“I realised that I want to do something about littering and not just participate in events organised by others. Today, I am part of a group of year-round active people who organise cleaning workshops in the spring. This spring, we organised the two-day Vuosaari litter disposal event for the third time and there were more than 200 participants. I collect litter almost every time I walk out the door, so I always carry litter pickers and a plastic bag with me. I get bigger bags from Stara’s cleaners, with whom I have already become familiar.”
Tuula is proud of her park pal hobby and considers her activities meaningful. Over the years, she has noticed an increase in the amount of litter in the cityscape. A few years ago, a person selected as the 2021 Vuosaari resident collected a record 56 bags of litter a year. Today, Tuula collects almost a shopping bag of litter every day.
“The number of cigarette butts, in particular, has unfortunately only increased. Now there are also snuff and nicotine bags, which are also dropped to the ground and street inlets. From there, they often end up in the sea. In my leisure time, I make small cigarette butt bins that are easy to carry around, even in the pocket. I make them out of old medicine bottles, which I receive as donations from different places. I give them to the smokers I meet.”
Anyone from Helsinki or other nearby municipalities who wants to volunteer in the public areas of Helsinki can become a park pal. Official communities and registered associations, such as residents’ associations and schools, can act as a park pal group.
To register as a park pal, visit the urban environment customer service at Työpajankatu 8 in Kalasatama. Upon registration, the new park pal will receive their own reflective vest, litter pickers, a park pal card and the contact information of the local park pal instructor.
Park pal activities are voluntary, so no salary or expenses are paid to the person participating in the activities. The pals participate in the activities according to their own choice and motivation. In addition to collecting litter, park pals can also do other green area maintenance work, such as weeding alien species. Other tasks should be agreed with the volunteer work coordinator, as there will be orientation to the tasks.
Above all, park pal activities are also communal activities. In addition to working together on a daily basis, park pals are invited to annual events, such as concerts and theatre performances, as a thank you for their good work.
“I can recommend park pal activities to everyone! I do this work voluntarily because I want to show that anyone can do good in their local environment with even small actions. It is an honour for me to be a park pal, and I have also inspired many friends to get involved in the activities,” says Tuula Syrjälä, a park pal.
