The "No Plastic to the Sea Conference" was a succes!

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KIMO's 30 November's conference entitled: "No Plastic to the Sea", on actions needed to tackle the #PlasticPollution of our #rivers that eventually ends up as #MarineLitter, was a great succes! The conference was organised by #KIMO the Netherlands/Belgium and was supported by Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, and the international branch of the Dutch Association of Municipalities (VNG International).

KIMO, the Local Authorities Environmental Organisation of NW European municipalities, works already for over 25 year on solutions to tackle the vast problem of pollution of the NW-European seas. The key solution to the problem of plastic pollution is achieving a #CircularEconomy in which plastic waste is regarded to be a resource that is upcycled. When that however is not possible, the plastics that are present in the riverine and marine environments need to be capable of degrading entirely into CO2 and water.

After the welcome address by KIMO's president Robert te Beest, there were great speeches delivered by e.g. the #PlasticSoupSurfer #MerijnTinga, Prof. #DickVethaak of Deltares/IVM-VU and Frederieke Knopperts and Karen van Burg both of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. Next, interesting presentations were delivered by #GerardPost jr. of #VNG (Association of Dutch Municipalities, international branch) and Jos Penninx president of #VNR (Association of Dutch Riverine Municipalities). By means of these presentations a picture was drawn of the sense of urgency of the problem, the scientific rationale and actions being taken and being prepared from the continental international to the local levels.

With the previous information as rich input, next, 4 workshops were held focusing on how to tackle the plastic pollution of our rivers which led to great ideas to take approaches further. The workshops on tackling the plastic pollution in rivers had 4 themes: "Generating and keeping political support", "The best components of a communications strategy", "Addressing the sources of plastic pollution" and last but not least "A plastic Free Haringvliet Estuary". A number of participants of these workgroups will continue cooperation on specific themes ("generating and keeping political support" and "the plastic free Haringvliet Estuary"), which was exactly what we hoped for.

It was a pleasure to organise and moderate this event on behalf of KIMO NL/B, #VNGi and #RWS and I look forward to further steps to tackle this huge problem! All participants are thanked for their valuable contribution! In case you would like to have more information do not hesitate to contact KIMO the Netherlands/Belgium

2 Comments

  2. "No plastic to the seas" is a great idea. I most certainly agree that the biodegradable plastic should be repurposed insitu to be part of restoring fertility to the soil and the oceans.   Now that the climate change hoax has been completely exposed the scientific community with private industry is exploding with useful technology. Even the greatest of all technologies that was hidden from the masses is now part of mainstream.  Even children know in school that the earth has its normal cycles. day/night, 4 seasons, moons orbit, earth orbit, sunspot cycle, hurricane cycles, asteroid showers x4 annually, Haley's comet, Even our binary star has a 3600 year cycle. It has been recorded many times in our past.  Now let's get back to work on current problems.  There are still a few uneducated persons that believe that plastics are not biodegradable. Through ignorance or agenda driven this is not helpful.  In nature compounds are formed and compounds are broken down.  Organic matter uses DNA and RNA microbes to reduce compounds. Simple ones DNA (bacteria and fungi ) can handle. But for complex and man made compounds requires RNA microbes only.  This technology has been around for 40 years.  Dr Carl Oppenheimer.  There is no excuse for a single country to have littered coastal areas. Bioremediation has the ability to clean all water and waste water, eliminate trash dumpsites, eliminate the need for chlorine,  eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Just to name a few currently in use industries.  For a (I do not believe a word you are saying) please view on youtube the Megaborg oil spill. Note: plastic island GYREs can be cleaned at sea, turned into compost, have a ship super greenhouse, grow food and be sustainable from sun, wind, and trash. Also very profitable.  Ask questions and become part of the solution.

    1 Comment reply

    1. An interesting reply indeed. In a million years from now most of the organic compounds present at this day will have been degraded. Plastics however do not degrade rapidly, hence the major problems caused. It takes hundreds of years at least to degrade completely, in the meanwhile polluting the food chain, killing animals and polluting our food. The appr. 150 million tonnes of plastic present at sea (incl. the gyres), which amount increases by 6-13 million tonnes annually, cannot be collected nor be composted easily without harming the ecosystem. So prevention is the main solution, but trying to clean our mess the next one. if we do not act we swim around in plastics soon. Please refer to the report of the UN and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation of 2016.