The plastic soup: Sea creatures have their stomachs full of it and so do we. We consume about one credit card of plastic per week. The ingredients of the plastic soup come from us: (open) garbage bags next to the container, menus from the restaurant terraces, confetti and cups from parties near the canal, and plastic bags from the market.
Share your observations of plastic in the water via the app CrowdWater. This way we learn more about the hotspots of plastic in the water and we can prevent it from reaching the sea and contributing to the plastic soup.
Download the app CrowdWater and register
Spot plastic litter in the water and share your observations
Join the litter fishing to clean-up the litter and examine it in more detail. Join the team!
Join also a canoeing session to examine the plastic waste in more detail and to clean up the canals.
With your observations and clean-up activities we aim to improve the removal and prevention of plastic litter in the water. Support our activities for cleaner canals
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The new academic year has started and with it education as well. Associate professor Dennis Claessen and Director of Education Han de Winde from the Institute of Biology Leiden set-up an environmentally friendly introduction to the Leiden Bio Science Park for their students, with the help of Plastic Spotters Liselotte Rambonnet and Auke-Florian Hiemstra.
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Chilling out on a terrace without worrying about disposable plastic blowing into the canals? That's possible in Leiden. The terraces of Brasserie De Poort and Tanoor, at the Haven, will be completely free of disposable plastic from 1 August 2020. Lot and the Whale will join later. And Logica, on the Stille Rijn, has been free of single-use plastic since its establishment in 2014.
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The canal is a reflection of human activity. We used to have a sea of plastic cups after big events, but thanks to the efforts of Canal Cups, this image belongs to the past. After the outbreak of Corona, the canal once again manages to hold up a mirror to us.
moreNeed some help? Tips or questions? Please let us know by e-mail via plasticspotter@gmail.com
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This project arose from questions from residents of Leiden. In honour of the 444th anniversary of Leiden University, this project was set up partly thanks to the financial support of Leiden University and the municipality of Leiden.
