When the PET Cup fleet reached Tiszalök on 22 August, the boats had already spent eight days travelling along the Bodrog and Tisza. The finish line marked the end of a demanding competition, but the final stretch revealed a more troubling reality: tonnes of waste remain hidden in floodplains even when no recent flood has carried it there. The expedition therefore raised a question that reaches beyond the event itself. How much of the pollution comes from upstream, and how much is created or abandoned locally? I spoke with Viktória Doró from the PET Kupa press office for this article.
Author: Zoltán Rokonál
A record with an uncomfortable meaning
The VII Bodrog–XIV Tisza PET Cup took participants from Olaszliszka to Tiszalök between 15 and 23 August. Twelve teams worked along the riverbanks and floodplains, collecting and sorting 18.9 tonnes of waste. That result exceeded the previous record of 17.5 tonnes, set on the same route in 2024 with 15 teams. Eleven of the participating teams had already taken part in earlier editions, giving them valuable experience in locating waste deposits that are difficult to see from the water.
Such a result is not easy to interpret. A larger amount of collected rubbish does not automatically prove that the river has become more polluted. It may also indicate that volunteers have become more efficient at finding material that has accumulated over a long period.
This distinction was especially relevant in 2026. Neither the Bodrog nor the Tisza experienced a major flood wave capable of transporting large quantities of new waste into the area. Much of what the teams discovered was already lying in the floodplain. Organisers said some deposits may have remained there for years or even decades.
The finding adds another layer to the familiar story of Tisza pollution. Waste arriving from the upper reaches of the river, including from the direction of Ukraine, remains a serious regional issue. Earlier clean-up campaigns have also shown the scale of the challenge. In a previous Daily News Hungary report, volunteers removed more than six tonnes of waste from the River Tisza.
At the same time, the latest route showed that not every discarded object can be blamed on the current. Some rubbish had never needed the river to carry it.
What was found near Tiszalök
The final section between Tiszaladány and Tiszalök covered approximately nine river kilometres. During that part of the journey, the teams collected 2,120 kilograms of waste, including 522 bags, eight tyres and numerous larger objects.
Behind those figures lies a considerable amount of manual labour. Volunteers had to enter dense vegetation, search difficult sections of the floodplain, remove objects from bushes and transport everything back to collection points. A bag of plastic bottles may appear insignificant on its own, but hundreds of such bags represent many hours of work.
Compared with other parts of the route, the Tiszalök section was not the most heavily polluted. Nearly seven tonnes were collected between Tokaj and Tiszaladány in just two days. The Bodrog section between Olaszliszka, Szegi, Bodrogkeresztúr and Tokaj produced almost 9.9 tonnes, while the Tisza section accounted for a further nine tonnes overall.
The uneven distribution illustrates why a single total cannot fully describe the condition of a river. Waste gathers in particular locations where vegetation, currents, earlier floods and human activity create natural traps.
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When the river is not responsible
One of the most troubling discoveries was an illegal waste deposit along the Bodrog. According to the organisers, the arrangement of the rubbish made it clear that people had taken it to the riverbank rather than the water carrying it there. The same area had been visited during the 2024 expedition, yet some sections appeared to contain even more waste this time.
The list of objects found elsewhere was equally revealing: tyres, parts of car bodies, refrigerators and other bulky items. These discoveries challenge the idea that the Tisza is merely a conveyor belt transporting waste from distant places into Hungary.
The reality is more complicated. Pollution can cross national borders, but it can also originate beside a local road, fishing spot or riverside shelter. Abandoned rubbish may remain hidden for years until a clean-up team exposes it.
That difference has practical consequences. International cooperation is necessary to address pollution entering Hungary from upstream countries. Local enforcement and waste-management systems are just as important when the source is illegal dumping within the country.
A competition built around environmental work
The PET Cup differs from a conventional clean-up campaign because its participants do not simply walk along the bank with bags. They build boats from recovered waste and use them to travel the river. Navigation, team challenges, quizzes and other activities form part of the programme, creating a structure that combines physical work with education and community-building.
The 2026 competition was won by Siemens Energy, followed by TOMRA and PETardáltak. A separate “Hero” award recognises the team collecting the largest amount of waste per participant.
Competition may seem unusual in an environmental programme, yet it helps maintain motivation during long and exhausting days. Teams return to the river year after year, become familiar with the terrain and develop practical knowledge about where waste tends to accumulate.
Young volunteers and participants involved in community-service programmes also encounter the problem directly. Seeing plastic trapped beneath vegetation can leave a stronger impression than learning about river pollution only through statistics or classroom discussions.
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Collection cannot replace prevention
The event’s success also exposes its central contradiction. The more effectively the PET Cup finds and removes waste, the more clearly it demonstrates how much rubbish has entered the natural environment.
That cannot be the final measure of progress. A future in which larger teams collect larger quantities every year would not represent a solution.
Prevention must therefore accompany clean-up work. Better waste management, stronger action against illegal dumping, cooperation among countries in the Tisza basin and systems that intercept waste before it reaches the floodplain are all necessary.
Recovery and recycling can extend the value of the work. At the Kisköre River Rescue Centre, collected material is sorted and prepared for further use. Earlier PET Cup projects also transformed recovered plastic into prototypes such as kayaks.
Still, recycling has limits. A bottle that is eventually processed after spending years in a floodplain has already caused unnecessary environmental damage. The most effective waste is the waste that never reaches the river.
What the arrival means for Tiszalök
Tiszalök was more than the endpoint of a sporting event. The town’s position along the route makes it a place where the consequences of upstream pollution, local dumping and floodplain accumulation become visible at the same time.
Repeated PET Cup arrivals can also influence how nearby communities relate to the river. A bottle floating past a bridge may be easy to overlook. Hundreds of bottles pulled from bushes create a different impression. So do abandoned tyres, refrigerators and illegal dumps.
Physical contact with the problem can change behaviour. Someone who has spent hours removing plastic from a floodplain may think differently the next time they hold a disposable bottle. That personal experience is one of the event’s most lasting effects.
Daily News Hungary has also previously reported on PET Cup clean-up expeditions, including an earlier campaign in which the Plastic Cup removed 8.2 tonnes of waste from the Tisza. Together, these reports show that the issue is not limited to dramatic waves of floating rubbish. It also involves hidden floodplain deposits, local responsibility and the long-term challenge of preventing waste from entering the river system.
The finish line is not the end
At Tiszalök, the boats arrived, the waste was weighed and sorted, and the results were announced. The competition had its winners, and the eight-day journey was complete. The environmental problem, however, remained.
The 18.9 tonnes collected during the expedition represent a significant achievement. So do the 2.12 tonnes removed from the final nine-kilometre section. Yet the most important figure may be the amount that volunteers did not reach.
The latest PET Cup showed that two explanations can exist at once. Some waste travels from far away, carried by the river across borders. Other rubbish is left much closer to home by people who treat the floodplain as a place where unwanted objects can disappear.
Volunteers can continue to remove what they find. Lasting progress will depend on reducing what reaches the river in the first place.
