Volunteers Clear Out Massive Amounts of Arctic Trash

A group of 39 volunteers has visited the island of Skjervøya, Norway, and collected 200 kg of trash as part of a three-year project to clean up the Arctic and conduct grassroots research in these areas.

In 2023, cleanup operations were carried out in Norway’s county of Finnmark, Iceland, Greenland, and Alaska with 1,837 volunteers taking part in 54 campaigns conducted as part of the Arctic Cleanup project. They collectively collected 28,419 kg of trash.

The three-year initiative has been launched under the Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) program, in collaboration with Keep Norway Clean, Ocean Conservancy, and local Arctic cleanup groups. The project’s core activity is to mobilize and facilitate volunteer cleanup efforts throughout the Arctic region, hoping to engage and raise awareness among residents, visitors, businesses, and authorities. Arctic cleanup efforts are as challenging as they are costly due to long distances, difficult-to-access areas, scattered populations, short cleanup seasons – mainly July – limited access to waste management, and enormous amounts of trash, but it is crucial they are conducted.