The mayor of Tallinn, Mihhail Kõlvart, noted that according to the report of The
Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), 80% of the litter
ending up in the Baltic Sea comes from the land areas. „It is carried to the sea from
the rivers, storm drain systems, wind and the people visiting beaches. It may come
as a surprise for many, but the cigarette filters are the most prevalent plastic waste
in the Baltic Sea. Moreover, it is the biggest plastic waste issue in the world. One
cigarette butt might poison 1000 litres of water and sadly, they are not
biodegradable. This type of pollution is a direct threat to human health as well –
inevitably, it ends up in the food chain,“ said Kõlvart.
„Although waste sorting is mandatory in Estonia, the wellbeing of nature should be
our top priority in itself and that is why we should not forget to recycle. That is one
of the very real thing everyone can do in order to make sure that the generations to
come get to enjoy the nature as we know it. It should be an inseparable part of our
culture – to take everything we bring to nature back with us once we leave, this
includes garbage left by others.”
The CEO of the Port of Tallinn, Valdo Kalm, said that each year about 10 million
passengers move through the Old Harbour and sadly, there are a lot of cigarette
filters and other small forms of litter in the harbour area. The cigarette butts are
often thrown directly to the sea from the ships as well. „The cigarette butts tossed
on the ground will also sooner or later end up in the sea – either by the wind or the

stormwater. We have more than 700 stormwater drains just here, in the Old
Harbour premises. Clean Baltic Sea is one of the priorities of the Port of Tallinn
and including to partnering with this campaing, we have done other investments as
well – the waste that comes to our port from the ships is sent to circular use and
soon we will begin with connecting the ships residing here to the shore power
system and will will also install automatic mooring devices.“
In order to tackle the cigarette butts’ issue, many activities are planned. The
campaign will peak September 19, on the World Cleanup Day 2020 which also
focuses on the problem of small piece litter and cigarette filters this year. Find more
information at https://www.worldcleanupday.org/.
The global call and media centre of the World Cleanup Day 2020 is located in the
briefing centre of the Tallinn City Government this year, located near the Freedom
Square. From here, the World Cleanup activities will be coordinated September 18-
20.
Tallinn is one of the four finalists still in the competition for the title of the
European Green Capital 2022. This year, 18 cities from across Europe ran for the
title and Tallinn (EST), Grenoble (FRA), Dijon (FRA) and Turin (ITA) are in the
final stage of the award process. The finalists will present their vision of the 2022
programme to the jury on October 8 in Lisbon. More information of Tallinn’s
participation can be found at www.tallinn2022.ee.