There are people who draw attention to environmental problems in an exciting way. One of those people is Merijn Tinga or the Plastic Soup Surfer. He surfed along the Dutch coast last year on a surfboard made of plastic litter. This year, he took on a new challenge, one for the Guinness Book of Records. Again on a homemade surfboard now in the form of a 500 ml. bottle, he did something nobody has done before…
Merijn Tinga, the plastic soup surfer, in the waves.
His idea is to cross the North Sea form the Netherlands to England on a kite surfboard with a homemade hydrofoil. The board is again made of plastic litter. A trip of 178 km! They made it, unfortunately not in the time they had hoped for.
This “Message on a bottle” is specifically to draw attention for plastic bottles polluting the environment. Merijn challenges everyone to contribute and sign the petition for the extension of deposits on 500 ml. bottles and encouraging the use of refillable bottles.
A great initiative, because as you maybe know plastic pollution is also harmful for the coral reefs. Wouldn’t it be great if a deposit occurs on all beverage containers including beverage on cardboard, bags and cans.
Research shows that waste is not always visible and causes harm: it has been found on the bottom of the deepest oceans.
Building an Ocean Cleanup device is an expensive and time-consuming solution to collect waste out of the ocean. The machine is able to clean the upper layer of the ocean. It is nevertheless no solution for the pollution in the deeper parts of the ocean. So again, prevention is better than cure. The solution is cheaper and faster: the introduction of a deposit on all beverage containers. If there had been a deposit on this packaging it would have been recycled instead of polluting our nature.