During our summer team building session we participated in the PET Cup on Lake Tisza, a large-scale litter picking event. Our team competed with 14 other teams, collecting over 10 tonnes of carefully sorted rubbish from the water and reeds.

It was a great experience to step out of our comfort zone and do something very clearly beneficial for aquatic life and water cleanliness in a well-organised, professionally supported programme.

Garbage collection sometimes meant battle wounds as we stepped out of the canoe into the bush, into the reeds or manoeuvred between the floating trees. In the process of sorting, we encountered all types of unpleasant smells, while getting to know each other from a new side. The competition was accompanied by colourful, fun and serious cultural activities such as songwriting, a high quality lecture on microplastics and a literary competition on the Tisza.

The event was also a coordination and self-awareness challenge for us, where we definitely felt like winners. We finished the competition in the middle of the pack, in 8th place, which we are happy with for our first participation, and we plan to improve on this next year, as we had a great time.

But who are the organisers of the PET Cup, how did it develop into a large, dedicated community with returning participants? The problem is becoming more and more familiar: unfortunately, tons of rubbish are flowing into the Tisza across the border. In 2013, a civil initiative was launched to combat this problem, based on the idea of Attila Dávid Molnár and Tibor Fekete, who used a boat made of PET bottles to demonstrate the presence of pollution in their award-winning nature film. The PET Cup competition was launched as a result, with more and more people joining the competition every year as participants and volunteer organisers.

To read more about the initiative, visit: Who are we?

As a participant, we can also recommend the programme for corporate team-building, as the competition creates an ideal atmosphere for team-building.