By Reuters Staff
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BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Flooding has sent carpets of waste plastic down river into Hungary over the past few days, officials say, despite earlier pleas to its upstream neighbours Ukraine and Romania for an end to the pollution.
As of Monday, floating garbage disposal units have removed 500 cubic metres of waste from the Tisza and Szamos rivers, Gabriella Siklos, a spokeswoman at the Hungarian Water Authority said.
Plastic bottles are streaming in on the Tisza from Ukraine, where it rises, and on the Szamos river that flows from Romania, said Gabor Molnar, an engineer at the authority, adding that colleagues up river were counting them as they entered Hungary.
Flooding has sent carpets of waste plastic down river into Hungary over the past few days, officials say, despite earlier pleas to its upstream neighbours Ukraine and Romania for an end to the pollution.