June 5, 2002
The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation has awarded its annual environmental awards to Professor Pentti Malaska for his long-term work on behalf of a sustainable energy policy and to the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry for its valuable work to reduce the environmental impact of packaging.
Chairman Heikki Simola of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation presented the awards on Wednesday, 5 June, at Finland's main event on World Environment Day at Elfvik in Espoo. Professor Malaska, who was the first and for over two decades the only Finnish member of the Club of Rome, started discussion of sustainable energy supply and social policy in Finland. Malaska is a well-known champion of sustainable development and has dealt with this subject in numerous lectures, articles and books.
The Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry has worked hard to maintain Finland's refillable bottle system. From an environmental viewpoint, refillable soft drink and beer bottles are better than disposable cans and bottles - even if they are recyclable - in practically every respect. If Finland shifted to disposable cans and bottles, this would create approximately 360,000 tons of glass waste and 20,000 tons of PET plastic waste. Recycling such a large amount of waste is not feasible in Finland or outside the country.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- Chairman Heikki Simola, tel. +358 50 5660 640
- Secretary General Esko Joutsamo, tel. +358 50 564 1789 or +358
9 228 08 208