Turku and Tampere competed in rubbish collection – Turku fought its way to victory with hooks made by 8th grade students

Two boys and girls on the banks of Aurajoki.  A muddy bike frame in the foreground.
Since Easter, friends from the first grade have been picking trash from the Aura River with a hook. – The strangest thing was finding an air conditioning pipe, says Joose Kankare. – And a ski, adds Onni-Wiljami Virtala.

In Tampere, rubbish was collected near the Tammerkoski swamp, while in Turku, bike carcasses were pulled from the bottom of the Aura River with homemade hooks.

Half past six organised a rubbish collection competition between Tampere and Turku. Rubbish was collected in the city centres of both cities. In Tampere they cleaned up Laukontori and Ratina beach, in Turku they collected rubbish from the Aura River near Tuomiokirko. The competition assessed the balance collected and the ingenuity of the participants in cleaning up their own environment.

*In our Million Bags of Rubbish campaign, we collect rubbish from the environment together.* *Participate and record the rubbish you collect in a counter.*

Three young people from Turku have been praised for cleaning up piles of rubbish in the River Aurajo

– The idea came from YouTube, and then one weekend we went to test the hook and it turned out to be quite handy,” says Benjamin Venhomaa.

Even in half an hour, many kilos of garbage rose from the front. The boys are also used to the interest of outsiders and often receive encouraging comments about their work and inquiries about their catch.

A female reporter interviews three young boys on the bank of Aurajoki.
A team of schoolchildren Onni-Wiljami Virtala (left), Benjamin Venhomaa, Joose Kankare and journalist Roosa Laksio formed a rubbish collection team in Turku.

Tammerkoski area littered with fast food packaging waste

– When I’m jogging, I always collect trash from the environment.

In Tampere, two full garbage bags were collected from the Tammerkoski marsh area. Melted fast food packaging was found in the parking lot of the Ratina stadium, and the trash bags were quickly filled with it.

When asked about Kananen’s summer plans, he says with a grin that it is difficult for him to separate vacation and work.

– I like to clean on vacation, but I do understand that people prefer to do it before the vacation starts. Simply wiping the dust and cleaning the outside window is enough. It already puts you in a holiday mood.

Kananen has become known for the home cleaning videos he publishes on social media. Kananen cleans apartments for free. According to him, cleaning the environment brings well-being and a better feeling. For a chicken, cleaning is meditative and calming.

Auri Kananen participated in the Million Garbage Bag campaign.
Auri Kananen (right), known as the cleaning queen, and journalist Ruut Parikka collected two bags of rubbish from the Tammerkoski swamp area in half an hour.

Kananen is constantly looking for new destinations.

– The dirtier the better. Feel free to contact me.

In the opinion of Kananen, a professional in the cleaning industry, the trio from Turku won the competition.

The content of the garbage bag under review in connection with the Million Garbage Bag campaign.
– Although Tampere collected more rubbish, the Turku residents won the competition with style points, says cleaning professional Auri Kananen.

What a million bags of rubbish?

*This spring, the whole of Finland collects garbage. Anyone can participate in the two-month cleaning talks. Collected garbage bags are marked on the counter next to the location where the garbage bags were collected. So, in addition to the common good, there will be a real competition between Finnish localities! The counter can be found at* *yle.fi/miljoonaroskapussia**.*

*See the race seen on the half past seven broadcast:*