Twelve students of Avans Breda cleared a shocking amount of trash out of the Breda canals. During a boat ride of only two hours they managed to fill six supersized trash bags with aluminum, plastic, glass and other waste. The activity took place on the 10th of October and was organized by Alex Chiodo, student Environmental Science for Sustainable Energy and Technology.
Alex came up with the idea when he met with GreenOffice students from Amsterdam one year ago. The students told him there was an initiative to fish for waste in the canals of Amsterdam, called Plastic Whale. “I liked their concept so I contacted the municipality of Breda to see if it was possible to do the same thing in their canals.”
‘Pollution starts in our city’
By cleaning the canals of Breda Alex hopes to show students that waste pollution is not just something far away from our daily lives. The big problem, Alex says, is that waste pollution simply does not go away over time. “Waste pollution is a progressive problem that starts first in our city.”
Future plans
Alex hopes to upscale project Plastic Whale next year. He plans to go fishing for trash once a month throughout the summer and he wants to invite city residents to come on board and join the project. By partnering with recycling businesses he hopes to eventually create his own boat, made out of recycled materials. With the amount of trash still floating around in the Breda canals, this shouldn’t be hard to accomplish.
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