national beach cleanup
plastic on the beach
Litter on beaches and in the sea is a big problem. Although our research shows that the North Sea has been getting cleaner in recent years, the problem is far from solved. Anything you use in everyday life can be encountered on the beach. From Styrofoam to cigarette butts, from cotton swabs to fishing nets and from candy wrappers to jerry cans.
local circular
At the invitation of The North Sea Foundation, Save Living Foundation is doing its part in 2018, 2019 and 2021. In order to turn the plastic collected from the beach into a new product of 100% recycled plastic for the municipalities through which the beach cleanup passes. Marlous: “To prevent it from ending up in the incinerators after it has been collected. Local circular we call that!” Thanks to main sponsor Boskalis the Boskalis Beach Cleanup Tour that makes this event possible. Every year during the summer they clean up the entire North Sea coast and draw attention to the waste problem. Since the start of this clean up action, 103,558 kilos of waste have already been removed from the beaches together with 18,897 enthusiastic volunteers.
8 million tons of plastic
In recent years, attention to the consequences of waste in the sea has grown enormously. Discharging waste into the sea is now prohibited worldwide, but about 8 million tons of plastic still end up in our oceans every year. This is harmful to the oceans and the many species that live there. Marine mammals, birds and fish mistake trash – such as pieces of plastic, caps or plastic bags – for food. Or they become entangled in discarded or lost nets, ropes and fish lint. More than 900 marine species are now demonstrably affected by marine litter.
You can only really combat litter properly if you tackle it at the source. For the Save Living Foundation, cleanup is a way to draw attention to the litter problem, but the ultimate goal is to prevent litter from entering nature in the first place.
