Tokmanni celebrates Baltic Sea Day by donating 53,000 euros for the protection of the Baltic Sea – The donation will help to prevent the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea

Tokmanni     Press release     27 August 2020 at 2:30 p.m.

The plaque commemorating the donation was handed over to the John Nurminen Foundation in Helsinki on Wednesday 26 August 2020. Pictured are Annamari Arrakoski-Engardt (left), Managing Director of the John Nurminen Foundation, and Emilia Koski (right), Tokmanni’s Head of Corporate Responsibility. Photo: John Nurminen Foundation

Tokmanni will celebrate Baltic Sea Day, to be held on Thursday 27 August, by donating 53,000 euros for the protection of the Baltic Sea through the John Nurminen Foundation. The donation will go towards supporting the foundation’s Clean Baltic Sea projects, which aim to reduce the load and environmental risks directed at the Baltic Sea.

Tokmanni’s customers and its private label brand Pisara, which focuses on beauty and cleaning products, have played an important role in the cooperation between the general discount retailer and the John Nurminen Foundation. Under the Pisara – Protecting the Baltic Sea cooperation, Tokmanni has pledged to donate five cents to the Foundation for the protection of the Baltic Sea for each Pisara product it sells between 1 May and 30 August this year. Tokmanni has aimed to make it very easy to accumulate funds for the donation, as the collection campaign lasts more than one hundred days and there are more than one hundred skin, body and hair care products included in the Pisara selection.

“Although work to protect the Baltic Sea is a large-scale effort, private individuals also have opportunities to influence the future of the sea. We want to thank our customers for buying our Pisara products and thus participating in supporting important work for protecting the Baltic Sea,” says Emilia Koski, Tokmanni’s Head of Corporate Responsibility.

“We are extremely pleased about the donation with which we will help the John Nurminen Foundation protect the wellbeing and valuable cultural heritage of the Baltic Sea,” she adds.

Impactful work for the protection of the Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted seas in the world, and its most serious environmental problem is eutrophication. Some of the most visible and concrete symptoms of eutrophication include increased water murkiness, slime on beaches and blue-green algae blooms. Climate change is accelerating eutrophication in many ways, including through increased rainfall and nutrient runoff from land and by causing the sea’s water temperature to rise.

The John Nurminen Foundation’s protection work is steered by measurable results and impact. Since 2005, the foundation has launched nearly 40 Clean Baltic Sea projects, 25 of which have been completed. The ongoing projects aim to prevent eutrophication by reducing nutrient runoff from agriculture through gypsum projects and a manure recycling project, by decreasing the environmental load on the sea caused by wastewater treatment facilities, biogas production and the shipping of fertilisers, and by recycling nutrients from the sea onto land through the fishing of cyprinid fish and utilisation of reed masses on coastlines.

Every Pisara product bought from Tokmanni during the campaign will allow the John Nurminen Foundation to remove an estimated 250 grams of algae from the Baltic Sea*. This means that the entire donation from Tokmanni will make it possible to remove as much as approximately 265,000 kilos of algae*. The means of removing algae include reducing the environmental load on the Baltic Sea caused by industrial wastewater treatment and curbing nutrient runoff from agriculture.

“We thank Tokmanni for their good cooperation and the additional visibility that the Baltic Sea has received as a result of this campaign. It’s great to see that Tokmanni’s customers have joined the effort to save the Baltic Sea. I believe that the campaign will inspire more people to become friends – and saviours – of the Baltic Sea, including people from new geographical areas,” says Erkki Salo, ‎Fundraising Director of the John Nurminen Foundation.


* The estimate is based on the foundation’s view and the results of previously completed Clean Baltic Sea projects.


Tokmanni and the John Nurminen Foundation encourage everyone to read about the foundation’s activities at www.johnnurmisensaatio.fi/en and about the Clean Baltic Sea projects at www.johnnurmisensaatio.fi/en/projects.


TOKMANNI


For further information, please contact:


Emilia Koski
Head of Corporate Responsibility
Tokmanni

Tel. +358 20 728 6529
emilia.koski(at)tokmanni.fi


Maarit Mikkonen
Head of IR and Communications
Tokmanni

Tel. +358 40 562 2282
maarit.mikkonen(at)tokmanni.fi


Erkki Salo
‎Fundraising Director
John Nurminen Foundation

Tel. +358 40 728 1859
erkki.salo(at)jnfoundation.fi


John Nurminen Foundation

Founded in 1992, the purpose of the John Nurminen Foundation is to save the Baltic Sea and its heritage to future generations. The Foundation has been awarded for its work as a communicator of information and producer of marine content. The goal of the Foundation’s Clean Baltic Sea projects is to improve the condition of the Baltic Sea with tangible measures that will reduce the load and environmental risks directed at the sea. The work is steered by measurable results and impact. www.johnnurmisensaatio.fi


Tokmanni

Tokmanni is Finland’s leading general discount retailer. Some 3,700 Tokmanni employees make customers’ everyday life and special occasions easier by offering a versatile and up-to-date assortment of Finnish and international brand-name products and other high-quality products at prices that are always affordable. With nearly 200 stores around Finland and an online store, Tokmanni is always close to its customers. Tokmanni’s revenue in 2019 amounted to EUR 944.3 million. Tokmanni’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.