Despite the remote location of Spitsbergen, the shores are often littered with garbage. This garbage of course does not originate from the archipelago itself, but is brought by ocean currents from more populated areas or has washed overboard from ships (we often find fishing nets). Cleaning expeditions by the Sysselman or the Clean Up Svalbard program by the various expedition cruise companies have cleared many beaches already and I definitely see less garbage as I did a few years ago, but there is still a lot of work to do.

This curious young bear was walking along the shore  and started playing with some plastic. Something that can be dangerous as the jerrycan could contain toxics and he might end up eating smaller plastic parts.