Fishing for plastic in Amsterdam
A trip on the canals is a part of every standard tourist programme in Amsterdam. Now, however, eco-conscious visitors can create a positive impact on the environment while on a boat trip through the town – by collecting rubbish.
Fishing for plastic in Amsterdam
The idea is simple yet ingenious. In Amsterdam, plastic, in the form of PET bottles or bottles floating on the canals, is to be collected by visiting tourists. The small boats seen along Amsterdam’s canals are made from recycled old waste plastic, which can then be used to fish out even more plastic from the water. Since 2011, an NGO based in Amsterdam, „Plastic Whale“, has collected around 150,000 plastic bottles, from which to date, nine boats, and even furniture, have been built.
Incidentally, it is the tourists who do the collecting since the collection trips have been made a part of the sustainable programme for tourists. The plastic tour costs 25 euros per person and includes a number of intriguing stories about Amsterdam and a snack donated by Tony Chocoloney, a chocolate manufacturer in Amsterdam and a supporter of the „Plastic Whale“.
The people and tourists of Amsterdam are killing two birds with one stone. For one, they can discover a new side to the city from the water. Secondly, the canals can now be regularly cleared of floating plastic waste. Even if the canals look clean at first sight, an enormous amount of plastic waste and drinking cans end up in the canals every day due to carelessness and pollution. The plastic cans are plucked out of the water by the tourists using nets and then are further processed by the NGO for recycling. The funniest thing about this “waste-collection boat trip”: The “strangest” catch of the day is awarded a prize. The tour takes two hours and is certainly time well spent when on holiday in Amsterdam.
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