Radio 1 interview Nieuwsweekend over Operatie Bakzeil
zaterdag 13 januari 2023
Hoe wij de plastictoeslag willen aanscherpen
Merijn Tinga (Plastic Soup Surfer)
Merijn Tinga aka the Plastic Soup Surfer is known for his extraordinary and impactful campaigns around plastic pollution, focused on policymakers and company ceo’s.
The Plastic Soup Surfer forced the political breakthrough on bottle deposits in the Netherlands in 2017 with a self-written resolution. An accompanying petition was signed by 60thousand people and was kickstarted by kitesurfing across the North Sea on a surfboard made from small plastic bottles.
Using a bailiff and a judicial instrument he confronted Coca Cola, Heineken, Pepsico, Spa and Dutch supermarket CEO’s with the plastic bottles he had found in the river Rhine after having paddled it from Source to Sea (1000km).
Timmermans & Manifest
For the Dutch community of plastic activists and NGO’s he organized a national conference on the future of plastics (2019). The resulting ‘Plastic Avengers Manifest’ states 5 principles to a ‘sustainable use of plastics’. VP Frans Timmermans became the ambassador and was handed the manifest personally by the Plastic Avengers Community in Leiden (the home town of the Plastic Soup Surfer).
Company change
With the community of litter-pickers he launched several campaigns using monitoring-apps.
In collaboration with the litter-pickers community he had a sweets-company change their wrappers to wax-paper after they were confronted with 16thousand photographs of ‘their’ littered sweets wrappers. Last winter the entire Dutch retail stopped the sale of ‘fireworks with integrated plastics’, after 60thousand photographs were made of the plastic pieces left behind in the streets and parks.
Plastics designed for littering
Arguing plastics in fireworks is designed to become litter - literally throw away plastic - the Dutch retail and the majority of the wholesale companies signed a convenant, drawn up by the Plastic Soup Surfer, in which they committed to phase out plastics from all fireworks.
Last summer the Dutch retail signed a second convenant for remaining ‘litterally throw away plastics’ on their shelves like water-balloons and plastic confetti, once again as a result of a campaign with the litterpickers community.
The current campaign of the Plastic Soup Surfer focusses on ‘waste separation’ in schools. For 2021 he is preparing a campaign and partnership with the online-retailers around the promotion of ‘repair’.
Vision
The Plastic Soup Surfer views plastic as the catalyst to ‘throw-away society’. A transition in the way we appreciate plastics, the designs and intended behavior is needed to fundamentally change plastic pollution. Efforts in recycling or cleaning-up divert the attention and slow down much needed measures promoting reuse and reduction.
Plastic Soup Surfer
The Plastic Soup Surfer is a small creative and flexible NGO. Merijn Tinga is often consulted by Dutch politicians and multinationals.
Plastic Soup Surfer is part of several International committees and groups (EU Break Free From Plastic coalition, Dutch SUP implementation committee, Dutch plastic fibres committee)
Merijn Tinga is a trained biologist and passionate surfer. He has 30k following on social media.
More info: PlasticSoupSurfer.org