00:00Plastic bottles, metal cans and even fridges or tires.
00:05Most of the plastic in our oceans comes from rivers,
00:08so it's vital to stop that pollution at its source.
00:11But how do you clean up plastic in the Danube,
00:14a river which runs through nearly a dozen European countries?
00:17We're in Hungary to meet the teams trying to do just that.
00:24We're often told we're in an ecological race to save the planet.
00:27These volunteers have taken that to heart.
00:30They've gathered on Hungary's river Tisza,
00:32the Danube's longest tributary, for the Plastic Cup,
00:35a competition to collect as much junk as possible.
00:39You'd think a place like this would be pristine,
00:41but everywhere there are discarded bottles and just general plastic waste.
00:48The Tisza and Danube flow through several countries,
00:51so what happens upstream can have a huge impact further down the river.
00:56To find out more, I spoke to Plastic Cup's project leader.
01:00It's coming from the upstream countries.
01:03How much plastic have you managed to fish out?
01:05Usually we can collect around 1,000 kilograms a day,
01:10so one ton a day keeps the waste away.
01:15Around 150 volunteers joined this clean-up.
01:18It's always good fun making friends and having a blast and doing good.
01:22This is my first time at the Pet Cup,
01:24and I hope that every year there will be less and less trash to collect.
01:28Almost half the Earth's surface waters are in river basins
01:31shared by at least two countries.
01:34There is a lot of pollution going on, I think, in every river globally.
01:37The Danube is transferring 1,500 tons of plastic.
01:41The Tisza is around 250, and we can stop 100 tons per year.
01:46And stop it getting to oceans?
01:48Yes, absolutely.
01:49OK, let's leave this clean-up for a moment and check out another event.
01:53It's called Danube Day.
01:57Europe-wide, this workshop at Hungary's Water Museum in Esztergom
02:00taught children about the river's ecological importance.
02:04It was also a chance to find out from those managing the country's waterways
02:08what's being done to tackle plastic pollution.
02:10How are you doing?
02:11Hello, Paul.
02:12What we can do in this is
02:15to collect waste water and move it away from the Tisza and other rivers.
02:19We can also monitor plastic pollution.
02:23The situation has improved a lot, which is good news,
02:25but the ultimate solution would be to strengthen international cooperation and partnership.
02:33Working as a team, then, to address the issue.
02:36Yeah, we need cooperative stakeholders, companies, NGOs, decision-makers,
02:42everybody to clean up the Tisza Basin and the Danube Basin as well.
02:45It's just very logical legislation and then action.
02:51That's it for this episode. See you soon for more Water Matters.
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