Arctic WASH Outreach Events in Nuuk and Sisimiut, Greenland: Preventing Plastic Pollution in the Ocean

We had  amazing days sharing our project IMARPUT Saliguk at Greenland Science Week at Qaagitsi in Nuuk and during a self-organized event Sisimiut past Sunday.

Our project stands on two legs: 1) Research to evaluate the load of plastic litter and related chemicals into the sea in Greenland from various sources; 2) Outreach and campaigns to reduce the load. In the end of the project we will evaluate the impact of our campaigns.

In particular wet wipes are a source of plastic litter from sewage:  so this has our attention.

Kids at all ages had a blast catapulting poo (for this occation made of plastic) into the potty and plastic wet wipes into the bin. Watching the action beneath the surface by the local wastewater outlet in 3D was also popular. You can read more about the project and watch the action in 2D here.

If you know anyone flushing wet wipes, please forward the message to them. Everything you flush could end up in the ocean. Flush only toilet paper!

Applaus to Arctic Hub for organising such a great event, and thanks to great colleages for taking a turn for the stands: Lea Tolstrup and Steffen Ringsø Nielsen from DTU Sustain, Rasmus Nygaard from Pinngortitaleriffik, and Lars Demant-Poort from Ilisimatusarfik. As well as to our fantastic project leader Lis Bach from Institut for Ecoscience - Aarhus Universitet for organizing everything and sharing immense amounts of enthusiasm.

The project is supported by VELUX FONDEN and is a partial replicate of the Arctic case in the Horizon EU project CLIMAREST.

Pernille Erland Jensen, Lead of the Thematic Network on Arctic WASH.