Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association is a nation-wide environmental organisation in Finland, aiming to promote the welfare of sea and lake nature through concrete action. The Association creates facilities for sustainable boating and provides individuals with an opportunity to do the right thing responsibly to the benefit of the environment. The Association has a positive impact on the state of bodies of water also through diverse research and environmental education efforts.
Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association conducts concrete environmental management work by building and maintaining waste collection points, dry closets and suction emptying equipment, and by arranging campaigns for the collection of scrap and hazardous waste. The Association maintains almost 200 Roope waste recycling and disposal stations throughout Finland. In the Kotka-Hamina region, the association maintains, for example, floating suction emptying stations, and is responsible for the maintenance of septic tank emptying stations. Moreover, it has procured dishwashing sites on some islands and monitors the littering of the beaches on the island of Lehmäsaari in Kotka. The Association also works in the region through the Roope harbour programme, which is an environmental programme for boat marinas.
Most of the debris that enters bodies of water comes from the land, and often the basic cause is human negligence. Trash is discarded in the natural environment instead of the waste containers intended for it. Attitudes towards environmental consideration are adopted in childhood, which is why Port of HaminaKotka Ltd has wanted to donate the funds intended for Christmas gifts this year to the Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association and its co-operation with schools under the “Siisti biitsi” programme that focuses on preventing the littering of the aquatic environment. Teaching materials and practical supplies for cleaning the environment, such as trash picking tools and rubber gloves, will be distributed to schools in Kotka and Hamina that are interested in this type of work. In addition, the Association’s school co-ordinator will visit schools to talk about environmental issues and provide practical advice for taking care of the environment.
According to Pinja Harjunpää, the school co-ordinator of Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association, the programme enables practical environmental education also outside the classroom, with experience, environmental work and doing things together being in a focal role. With the support of Port of HaminaKotka Ltd, the Association can support the school activities in the region more effectively.
“We are very happy in the Association about this Christmas donation. It is great to allocate the donation to the school co-operation activities in the region, because in that way the effects of the donation will keep on living in the daily lives of children and adolescents, and it is to be hoped that the culture of sustainability will be disseminated to homes, too,” says Veera Säilä, Fundraising Manager of Keep the Archipelago Tidy Association.
Additional information: https://www.pidasaaristosiistina.fi/en
