MarkCermak
RIP
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2006
- Messages
- 454
Traditional waterfront carpet cleaning to be outlawed
Helsinki - The traditional mattolaituri (carpet cleaning areas) are to be closed in Helsinki and across the country. The long established Finnish custom of washing carpets and rugs in the sea, rivers and lakes is all about to change – in favor of new eco-friendly carpet-cleaning facilities located on dry-land.
The risk of detergents and pollutions entering the nation’s waterways has long worried environmental groups because detergents consume and remove oxygen from the water, causing an increase in seaweed and algae growth, as well as lowering the water quality.
But public opinion is mixed. Some agree that the chemicals in the detergents can be harmful to the sea and should be stopped. Others, such as local woman Sointu Peitola, who has been using the washing facilities at Tervasaari in Helsinki for many years, disagrees: “Everybody thinks it is a shame, it is an old tradition and they can’t take that away from us.” She also describes the area as her “own little oasis, very relaxing and part of life”. And many washers like Peitola use natural soaps when cleaning their carpets to try and stop pollution. She also expressed an opinion held by others like her: “It is traditional, it has been happening for years, why is it a problem now?”
However, tourists appear to enjoy watching and photographing this seemingly unusual Finnish custom, so for this reason it is reported that the mattolaituri area in Kaivopuisto will be preserved for tourism.
The water from the new dry-land services will be fed straight into drains rather than into the sea and will be located at various places around the country. Their popularity with local users, used to washing by the waters’ edge, remains unclear.
This is old kind of "mattolaituri", laundry dock. People wash their carpets there and flushes all the soap to the sea or in this case to the river.
Helsinki - The traditional mattolaituri (carpet cleaning areas) are to be closed in Helsinki and across the country. The long established Finnish custom of washing carpets and rugs in the sea, rivers and lakes is all about to change – in favor of new eco-friendly carpet-cleaning facilities located on dry-land.
The risk of detergents and pollutions entering the nation’s waterways has long worried environmental groups because detergents consume and remove oxygen from the water, causing an increase in seaweed and algae growth, as well as lowering the water quality.
But public opinion is mixed. Some agree that the chemicals in the detergents can be harmful to the sea and should be stopped. Others, such as local woman Sointu Peitola, who has been using the washing facilities at Tervasaari in Helsinki for many years, disagrees: “Everybody thinks it is a shame, it is an old tradition and they can’t take that away from us.” She also describes the area as her “own little oasis, very relaxing and part of life”. And many washers like Peitola use natural soaps when cleaning their carpets to try and stop pollution. She also expressed an opinion held by others like her: “It is traditional, it has been happening for years, why is it a problem now?”
However, tourists appear to enjoy watching and photographing this seemingly unusual Finnish custom, so for this reason it is reported that the mattolaituri area in Kaivopuisto will be preserved for tourism.
The water from the new dry-land services will be fed straight into drains rather than into the sea and will be located at various places around the country. Their popularity with local users, used to washing by the waters’ edge, remains unclear.
This is old kind of "mattolaituri", laundry dock. People wash their carpets there and flushes all the soap to the sea or in this case to the river.
