Poop and wet wipes that don’t dissolve engaged children in Svalbard

Most Arctic towns and settlements are challenged by poor wastewater treatment systems, and the drive towards implementing improved treatment is increasing. Through projects like Climarest and Flushwatch, we intend to raise awareness.

The overall purpose of the Flushwatch project is to contribute to increased citizen awareness in Svalbard, as well as in Greenland and Iceland. The intention is that knowledge of the problems will lead to increased protection against litter and wastewater in the Arctic seas. Findings through the Climarest project revealed that people often flush cotton buds, contact lenses, condoms, sanitary pads/tampons and wet wipes down the drain. All these products form a carpet on the seabed which interferes with the sedimentary deposits and the animals that depend on them.

A recent study in Greenland shows that a roughly estimated contribution of synthetic or semisynthetic plastic litter is approximately 2 tons per year, hereof 1.2 wet wipes.

Observations of high concentrations of litter and microplastics along the Greenlandic coastline raises concern. A working group of the Arctic Council, PAME (Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment), has produced a regional action plan on marine litter which includes improving onshore waste and wastewater management.

Plastic litter can physically affect marine organisms and cause biodiversity and ecosystem disturbances and ultimately pose risks to human health. The undesirable omnipresent microplastics and the scatter of plastic litter in the environment give rise to emerging environmental concerns, including in the Arctic.

Teach the children

Researchers from CLIMAREST and Flushwatch recently visited Svalbard to talk to local children to raise awareness and teach them at an early age how important it is to use the toilet for what the toilet is meant for.

The most eye-catching item of the event was the poop fishing basin and the children immediately gathered around it. They quickly engaged in who could fish the most poops. «Look, I got a big one!» Meanwhile, the adults got engaged in untangling fishing gear, which could not happen fast enough.

Our quiz showed that the children were very well educated about what not to flush down the toilet. However, exactly WHY they should not flush wet wipes was less clear. Isn’t it almost the same as toilet paper?

We demonstrated what happens when wet wipes and toilet paper are flushed into water. When they added these items to bottles of water and shook them as hard as they could, we saw that toilet paper went into a thousand pieces and more or less dissolved while the wet wipes stayed intact no matter how much they shook. That was quite a surprise to everyone.

We further showed locally collected garbage from the sea floor outside town nicely molded in epoxy together with the brissleworm «Børste». They all agreed it was not great for «Børste» to have his house filled with trash from our toilets.

The VR glasses were an attraction themselves; «Whooo, cool, these are Quest 3! They are so nice!». Who knew that scientists could have such cool gadgets?! Equally exciting was the actual film recorded in the waters outside town. The viewers were virtually taken onboard the UNIS research vessel and from there they dove into the sea with the underwater drone. Below the surface they could see swirling kelp, curious fish and drifting jellyfish. «I want to see it again!» was the most used phrase at the VR-station. And the lucky ones got three turns before they had to leave.

The film also amazed the adult audience, sticking your head under water in these high latitudes (78 N) is not a common activity. Showing local materials like this film and the garbage epoxy really captivated people’s attention. 

We are yet to determine if the VR-film or the poop fishing was the most popular activity, but what is certain is that the kids had a good time. Everyone got stickers saying «Protect our waters – only flush toiletpaper» to stick in their bathrooms as a reminder to be mindful about waste handling to protect marine life. 

Flushwatch aims to educate local communities about the importance of waste management, raising awareness about substances discharged into wastewater systems and the damage it leads to. In collaboration with other projects the findings of this research will hold significance for addressing plastic pollution from sewage not only in Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland, but also in rural communities across the entire Nordic region and globally.