5 Gyres - Understanding Plastic Pollution Through Exploration, Education, and Action

How do you blast an issue like plastic pollution out across an entire country in just 3 short days? Ask the Plastic Soup Foundation (PSF), an Amsterdam based NGO fired up with making all of the Netherlands aware of plastic pollution – or “plastic soup” - in less than a week.

First, it takes a bit of a hell raiser at the helm. Which is precisely what the Plastic Soup Foundation has in Maria Westerbos – a determined, fiery woman who wont take no for an answer, will go head to head with the industry, and will shake the press by the shoulders until they pay attention – all with a disarming laugh and a sparkle in her eyes. With her active board and a cadre of enthusiastic volunteers, they form Holland’s explosive new initiative to solve plastic pollution.

Maria invited Marcus, Charles Moore and me out to Amsterdam for the "Plastic Soep 3 Daagse", an intensive three days of presentations, university visits, press conferences, meetings with politicians, and strategic problem solving with young innovators, all culminating in a lively flash mob in the main square.


The 3-day plastic pollution marathon kicked off with Marcus and Charlie giving a keynote address at the 11th annual Sustainability Congress to an audience of 700 entrepreneurs, sustainability professionals, and even a few plastics industry reps. Marcus’s address included the first public announcement of our South Pacific Gyre data – the first global evidence of a clearly defined garbage patch between Chile and Easter Island. Stand by for publication of this paper in early 2012.

The address seemed to hit home – one of the plastics industry reps approached Maria after the talk and told her he was “ashamed” of the damage his business had done, and wanted to get involved in solutions.

Next, a press conference with local media – Charlie, Marcus and I joined by Hans Van Weenan, PSF’s chief scientist, and a representative from the North Sea Foundation, who performed an amazing demo on microplastics - stand by, demo to come soon!

We then headed to meet with the European Foundation on Social Quaility, a fascinating think tank working to define social quality indicators in Europe and overseas. They are currently working closely on the next UN Sustainable Development Conference - the Rio + 20 summit, and  interested in following up on our plastics work overseas.

Day 2 began with an early morning visit to a local school with Jan Van Franeker,  a world-renowned expert on seabirds, and one of the early pioneers of the plastics issue. Jan’s research on plastic ingestion by Fulmars dates back to the 70s, long before plastics were even a blip on the public radar. He brought 5 fresh Fulmar carcasses to the schoolroom, to dissect on the spot for an audience of riveted elementary school students. Sure enough – every single carcass contained plastic particles – film and fragments. This was a demo these students will likely never forget.


We then split up in teams for an afternoon university tour – Marcus to Wageningen, Charlie to Delft, and me to Leeuwarden, accompanied by our new Dutch friends. The three of us had a chance to address separate groups of remarkably engaged students - several of whom have already inquired about joining us on our next expedition.


Day 3: our visit to The Hague, a chance to meet with some of Holland’s respected politicians, and a member of the European Parliament. But not before doing a bit of plastics fishing in the ponds immediately outside the grounds. We brought our catch into the press conference to drive home the point that plastic waste is ubiquitous, entering our oceans from a million different waterways, streams, sewers – every city contributes to the plastic soup.


Though most of the proceedings were in Dutch, bits were translated and the issue is universal enough for us to get the basics. Some politicians expressed the same hesitance to confront industry that we see in the states, preferring to put the responsibility back on consumer to make better choices.

Others, fortunately including one of the European Members of Parliament, a strong ally to the Plastic Soup Foundation, understand the importance of taking preventative action. We presented him with a gyre sample from the North Atlantic, and will follow up on engaging the European fishing community in bringing our trawls on board to conduct citizen science plastics research.

I’m missing numerous other highlights here – building a plastic bottle boat with kids, meeting with the director of a Big Picture School, Charlie’s book signings, and a final flash mob in the main square – but you get the gist. Holland is fired up on plastics, and this was just the beginning.

5 years ago, plastic pollution was barely a whisper on the public radar. And now, country by country, the issue is taking the world by storm, leaving bag bans, campaigns, and new initiatives in its wake. It’s an exciting time to be involved, and we’re proud to be on board.

(All photos by Peter Smith)