- Title: Hungarian wages one-man campaign against floating garbage in river
- Date: 3rd October 2019
- Summary: TISZAFURED, HUNGARY (OCTOBER 1, 2019) (REUTERS) WASTE COLLECTOR BENCE PARDY DRIVING HIS BOAT ON LAKE TISZA PARDY DRIVING HIS BOAT ON THE TISZA RIVER PARDY ON BOAT NEAR SHORE VARIOUS OF FLOATING WASTE PARDY STANDING ON BOAT AND MOVING HIS PADDLE TO PICK UP WASTE PARDY REMOVING PLASTIC BOTTLE FROM RIVER PARDY REMOVING WASTE FROM RIVER PARDY EMPTYING WATER FROM BOTTLE, PLACING BOTTLE INTO RECYCLING BAG PARDY PLACING PLASTIC BOTTLE INTO RECYCLING BAG (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) WASTE COLLECTOR, BENCE PARDY, SAYING: "We used to have a house in a nearby small village and came here for the summers. There was no waste at that time as we did not generate so much waste and there wasn't this plastic plates and forks craze." VARIOUS OF PARDY REMOVING PLASTIC FROM RIVER VARIOUS OF PARDY CRUSHING PLASTIC BOTTLE PARDY PLACING PLASTIC BOTTLE INTO RECYCLING BAG (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) WASTE COLLECTOR, BENCE PARDY, SAYING: "I was so shocked by seeing how much waste there was here too. We had to leave behind a lot as we could not collect it all and then I decided that I would come back and continue it." PARDY REMOVING WASTE FROM RIVER PARDY CRUSHING PLASTIC BOTTLE PARDY REMOVING WASTE FROM RIVER (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) WASTE COLLECTOR, BENCE PARDY, SHOWING AND SAYING: "This goes all the way until the greenery on the water as there is waste below it." PLASTIC WASTE ON RIVER PARDY CRUNCHING PLASTIC BOTTLE AND PLACING IT INTO RECYCLING BAG (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) WASTE COLLECTOR, BENCE PARDY, SAYING: "Everywhere in the world the protection of the environment is among the least important issues, everything else is more important. And now we are getting a lot of warning signs, and we still do not want to change." PARDY REMOVING WASTE FROM RIVER PARDY STANDING ON BOAT AND CRUSHING BOTTLE PLASTIC BOTTLE WITH CYRILLIC LETTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) WASTE COLLECTOR, BENCE PARDY, SAYING: "I think we are heading into an abyss at high speed. We believe we can separate ourselves from nature, and that our actions have no consequences. And we have been in big trouble for many years but still the economic interests are more important than putting our own habitat in order. I am trying to be an optimist, and yes, there are all kinds of efforts, but this is still way too little." PARDY DRIVING HIS BOAT ON THE TISZA RIVER RECYCLING BAGS ON BOAT PARDY DRIVING HIS BOAT PARDY STACKING RECYCLING BAGS IN YARD PARDY PUTTING DOWN A RECYCLING BAG
- Embargoed: 17th October 2019 11:11
- Keywords: Hungary river pollution cleaning up waste waste collecting preservation of natural environment plastic in rivers water pollution conservation
- Location: TISZAFURED, HUNGARY
- City: TISZAFURED, HUNGARY
- Country: Hungary
- Topics: Pollution,Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA001AZJMQT5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Bence Pardy spent his summers as a child by Hungary's second main river, the Tisza.
Now, at 32, he has given up his job to move back there permanently to collect plastic waste which pollutes its waters.
The Tisza, one of the main rivers in Eastern Europe, starts in Ukraine and flows across Hungary to join the Danube in Serbia. It then flows eastwards to empty into the Black Sea.
Over the past three months, working all day on his own from a small motorboat, Pardy has collected plastic bottles from the river and its floodplains by hand to fill 466 huge binbags.
In many places, there are floating waste islands made up of plastic bottles already overgrown with lush vegetation.
Pardy said when he spent summers here in his youth there was no waste on the river. "We didn't generate so much" he said.
He worked as a waiter in Budapest before he moved to Tiszafured, a town nearby, and now lives in a small caravan.
As his money was running out, he launched a social media campaign to raise funds for the project.
During another large-scale initiative, which he also joined, volunteers removed more than 11 tonnes of waste from the Tisza this summer, Pardy said.
Pardy said the waste, which also includes refrigerators, car parts and even hazardous items such as needles, is mostly washed downstream from Ukraine during flooding from the waste dumps there.
"We are getting a lot of warning signs" Pardy said, adding he thought humanity was heading "into an abyss at high speed".
Despite this, Pardy said he was determined to continue what he started.
"I am trying to be an optimist, and yes, there are all kinds of efforts, but this is still way too little."
(Production: Krisztina Fenyo, Dominik Starosz) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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