This Christmas Huhtamaki supports The Clean Baltic Sea project by donating the 2008 Season`s Greetings card funds to boost the efficiency of urban wastewater treatment in Baltic countries.The Clean Baltic Sea project focuses on reducing the phosphorus content of wastewater generated by cities in the Baltic basin. This requires concrete action and international cooperation between public and private players - the Baltic Sea does not recognize national borders. Almost half of the population of the Baltic basin live in Poland, and a third of the external phosphorus load to the Baltic Sea comes from Poland.
The Clean Baltic Sea project aims to boost the efficiency of phosphorus removal processes at wastewater treatment plants in many Polish cities. Cooperation with the City of Warsaw began in summer 2008 and the project administrator is now inviting companies and associations to join in. Huhtamäki Oyj supports the project by donating yearly Season`s Greetings card funds.
John Nurminen Foundation of Finland has been working to protect the Baltic Sea since 2004 and is the driver behind the Clean Baltic Sea project. The project began with work in St Petersburg, where more efficient chemical phosphorus removal processes were introduced in autumn 2007. The foundation has joined forces with Baltic Sea 2020 (a Swedish foundation established in 2005 by Björn Carlson) to fund the ongoing project in Poland. Both foundations focus on concrete action to reduce eutrophying nutrient emissions in the Baltic Sea. Their aim is to always work where every euro spent will result in the greatest possible positive impact on the environment.
Huhtamaki`s value to treat our world with respect means also to care about each other, the environment and the community.
The water in the Baltic Sea is brackish with a low salinity - a unique mixture of salty and fresh waters. The salinity of the Baltic Sea water is only approximately 20% of the salinity of the oceans (35 per mille). Furthermore, the salinity of the Baltic Sea`s surface water decreases towards the North, and the water in the Bay of Bothnia and the bottom of the Gulf of Finland is almost fresh.
In comparison with the oceans, the Baltic Sea is a small and shallow body of water. The average depth of the Baltic Sea is only 55 metres, whereas the average depth of the oceans totals several kilometres, and even the Mediterranean's average depth is one kilometre. The deepest basin of the Baltic Sea is 450 metres deep at its most. The Baltic Sea is linked to the North Sea via the narrow Danish straits, and the turnover of the water is very slow. Theoretically, it has been estimated that the turnover of the entire water quantity of the Baltic Sea takes approximately 30 years. According to the slow water turnover, environmental toxins and eutrophying nutrients remain in the Baltic Sea and cause long-term effects.
