Plastic Cup - The Riversaver Toolkit

The Hungarian initiative Plastic Cup, named after the prestigious sailing race, the America’s Cup, is a best practice in managing the issue of plastic pollution of rivers in its complexity with a transnational river basin wide approach.

Plastic Cup Society, originally established in 1996 under the name Naturefilm.hu, began as a passionate nature filmmaking team. The society produced an environmental television documentary series focused on addressing plastic pollution in the Tisza River. The success of this led to the creation of a non-profit environmental initiative known as the Plastic Cup, which has since become a registered trademark and the official name of the society. For more than a decade, Plastic Cup has actively collaborated with numerous international partners, actively participating in river cleanups across the Danube River Basin for its shared prosperity. Transnational actions and projects, as well as knowledge sharing and awareness raising are the key ingredients to tackle plastic pollution effectively on river basin level.

Presently, Plastic Cup stands out as one of the most influential and effective river cleanup initiatives in the Danube River Basin, owing to its impressive results, many participants, and substantial outputs. This initiative goes beyond the simple act of cleanup. By emphasizing monitoring, education, and recycling, Plastic Cup addresses various aspects of riverine litter and tailors its approach to each phase. These collective efforts have led to the removal of over 300 tonnes of riverine litter and the recycling of 200 tonnes of riverine litter, mostly plastics. While these activities have successfully raised awareness and engaged local stakeholders across the river basin internationally, the ultimate solution lies in preventing waste from entering the river. This necessitates the implementation of preventative measures and proper waste management systems. Therefore, Plastic Cup has taken proactive measures in upstream countries, particularly in Ukraine. Along the Latorica and Uzh rivers, the initiative has established collaborative partnerships with local environmental activists and waste management companies. Together, they have effectively diverted more than 700 tonnes of household waste away from the river's path.

The Plastic Cup actions are built upon three core pillars: research, river cleanup actions, and environmental education.

During the 10+ years activities of the Plastic Cup we have accumulated and developed a large knowledge base: the science of river saving. With the Riversaver concept, the goal is to share this complete solution package against plastic pollution. Both protocols and physical assets are part of this concept, aligned with the above three pillars. For example Handguide for community cleanups, GPS bottle for plastic flood real time monitoring, remote sensing technologies, professional boats and camera systems for interventions, as well as awareness raising and community building practices resulting in various objects made from the rebirth of collected waste - from tiny carabiners to full-fledged kayaks.

The complete understanding of the RiverSaver concept comes to fruition when all facets are visualized on an online map - from polluted areas to solutions. The map will offer opportunities to engage various stakeholders, including water authorities, conservation experts, NGOs, schools, and more, in these activities. The map on riversaver.eu will be online soon.