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.
How much of this plastic actually flows through our canals and rivers and how much of it reaches the sea? Research it as a Plastic Spotter together with other scientists! This way we learn more about the transport of plastic in the water and we can prevent it from reaching the sea and contributing to the plastic soup.
Download the CrowdWater app and register.
View a canal or river, preferably from a bridge, and add your measurement location to the app.
Take a picture of the water and indicate if the water flows, which part of the canal or river you have seen and how much plastic you see. To get a good idea of the distribution of plastic at this location, add a measurement to the same location every few days.
Join also a canoeing session to examine the plastic waste in more detail and to clean up the canals.
We're not just going to watch the plastic flowing into the sea. We also want to clean-up the mess. With a new canoe fleet, volunteers will be able to go on the water in Leiden again in April to make it plastic-free. Together we will clean our water! Support the clean-up actions with a contribution.
Join also a canoeing session to examine the plastic waste in more detail and to clean up the canals.
Go Canoeing!
With a new season of litter fishing at our doorstep, we focussed on testing the software used to map waste in de Leiden canals. During such a test we found the most expensive object so far from the water. We reckon this record will not be broken anytime soon! The crowdfunding for extra canoes is going well and we are steadily approaching the target amount.
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What is typically found in the Leiden canals during the canoeing sessions? We sorted the whole yield of 21 December 2019 and made pictures. Based on dozens of sessions it's safe to say the overview is representative of what kinds of litter we collect during other rounds through the city centre.
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The data we collect together gives us a good picture of where the plastic waste ends up in the canal. Not only do we want to monitor how this is transported through the water, but we also want to remove it. That's why you can now donate for a new canoe fleet!
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Need some help? Tips or questions? Please let us know by e-mail via info@citscilab.nl.
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.
