Art from filters

The three crates of water filters to be donated weigh a total of 1500 - 1700 kilograms. The tubes are 5 cm in diameter and made from metal perforated like Swiss cheese. The metal is completely covered with gauze-like white thread. The tubes have not been used, because the rubber plugs at the ends of the tubes are of the wrong size.

The tubes were delivered to Olkiluoto already in 2008 and will now finally be put into effective use.
The water filters are to be transported to the Academy's facilities in Helsinki, where they will be used at least in sculpture classes. Works of art are produced in different courses starting from the material. A certain material is given to the students to work on.

Technician Vesa Rahikainen, who accepted the donation on behalf of the Academy, visited Olkiluoto to have a look at the tubes, and was happy to accept the gift. – I believe students in many different fields of art will be able to utilise the water filters, Mr. Rahikainen said. Some students will maybe use the metallic part inside the tube, while others will utilise the gauze-like thread wound round the tube, he pondered.

TVO has made donations also before, but not on such a large scale. The aim is to reduce the amount of landfill waste and find alternative solutions for the emplacement of waste. One of TVO's objectives is to minimise adverse impact on the environment and to provide information to the employees about the environmental significance of their own work.

– The law on the reduction of waste will be adopted in 2016. TVO has already for a long time recycled waste wherever possible, from site waste to leftover food, explains Markku Heponeva, TVO's environmental services expert.

Markku Heponeva and Vesa Rahikainen study the construction of the water filters.
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