Plastic Soup Surfer
MERIJN TINGA IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE PLASTIC SOUP SURFER. HE FIGHTS PLASTIC POLLUTION, OFTEN WITH SURFBOARDS AS A WEAPON. THIS IS HIS STORY!
"We need to close the tap on plastic. The plastic soup problem does not start in the oceans or in the rivers; it starts on land. So solutions should be found on land. We need to go 'Plastic Smart'. We need to step away from our 'throw away' culture and change to 'alternative behaviour' made possible by companies and backed by politicians"
Expedition #1: KITE SURFING RECORD ATTEMPT FROM BELGIUM TO GERMANY | 2014
In 2014 Merijn Tinga is a visual artist. His first surfboard from plastic waste is made in the art studio of Merijn Tinga . It is made from plastic litter he found on his local surf beach (Katwijk).
The making of the plastic soup surfboard
Merijn the artist
A welded metal mold, a gas torch and an ironing rod is used to melt the plastic into a surfboard shape. This heavy +20 kg surfboard is an artwork and is a statement about the state of our seas.
The making of the surfboard : the next stage
A proud artist with his first plastic soup surfboard!
Testing the first ever plastic soup surfboard
After waiting a few months for the right wind conditions he embarks in August of that year on a three day expedition up the 350 kilometer Dutch coast. Never done before!
Looking forward to start the expedition
This trip marks the birth of the activist in the visual artist. The expedition goal is to raise general awareness and is a statement on state of our seas.
but exhausted and injured he was forced to give up.... not reaching his goal of the island of Borkum.....
“The surfboard was an artwork and I set on the journey as an artist. Three days later I got of the board again as an activist, as the Plastic Soup Surfer.”
From Artist to Plastic Activist : the movie!
A befriended filmmaker from his biology study - Bie Muusze - makes a 50 minute documentary on the expedition.
Movie première
Expedition #2: SAILING & PLASTIC HUNTING IN SCANDINAVIA | 2015
A 5 month sailing expedition with his family from Leiden around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in 2015. While sailing around they took samples using a manta trawl, cleaned beaches daily and made educational Vlogs about our campaigns with his 8 year old daughter.
Plastic hunting stops during this expedition (see the blue stars for subtitled vlogs).
"After 5 months of daily beach cleans I realised that cleaning up is not a solution. We need a systemic change"
Vlog about the sailing and plastic hunting expedition with his family (subtitles available)
Expedition #3: A KITEBOARDING RECORD ATTEMPT CROSSING THE NORTH SEA | 2016
The remarkable and successful story of the Plastic Soup Surfer: a mini-documentary by Eelke Dekker
On the 3rd of September 2016 the Plastic Soup Surfer set of to cross the North Sea on kite-foil board made from plastic bottles.
The crossing proved a bigger challenge than expected due to changing weather conditions, current and sea state.
Finish in Lowestoft
The 190 km crossing marked the start of a petition that called for the implementation of deposit fee on small PET bottles of which 75 million are littered in the Netherlands on a yearly basis.
This petition got signed by nearly 60 thousand people and was presented to Dutch Parliament and he surprised them by having them sign a RESOLUTION !
The signing of the resolution
Plastic Soup Surfers daughter is explaining the resolution for the TV news cameras
The day after his resolution was adopted by Parliament.
His “Plastic Soup Surfer resolution” then became the basis for a new policy which will see deposit fee on small plastic bottles in the spring of 2021.
" We came from far. Now sailing into port has become the most treacherous part of this journey. But our resolve is growing as we get closer"
Expedition #4: SUPPING EXPEDITION RHINE FROM SOURCE 2 SEA | 2017
SUPPING FROM SOURCE TO SEA 2016
"The aim was confronting soft drinks companies and supermarkets (who were against a deposit system for small PET bottles) with their own plastic litter. The film 'From Source to Sea' aired on National Geographic and was shown in the Dutch Parliamanent. This expedition and film has enabled me to involve the directors of Coca Cola to Albert Heijn in the deposit debate with a bailiff."
By paddling down +1000 km the iconic river Rhine from source to sea in 2017 the Plastic Soup Surfer wanted to focus the attention to the rivers as one of the major sources of plastic pollution.
It is your own back yard where the ‘Plastic Soup’ originates. Rivers transport mismanaged waste, litter and many tons of micro-plastics to our seas and oceans.
See the #1000 rivers map of the Ocean Cleanup for more information about river plastic pollution.
"The river plastic emissions to the worlds ocean" map of the Ocean Cleanup
Doing interviews to spread "the message"
During the challenging +1000 kilometer expedition we visited stakeholders and specialists and were able to spread our message via several regional and national media along the banks of the river Rhine.
Meeting people along the way and spread "the message"
The 'plastic waste board' was made by the Science Center of the Technical University of Delft and is exhibited there.
Movie director Eelke Dekker followed the Plastic Soup Surfer during his voyage from the high mountains of Switzerland all the way down to the North Sea and together they made a series of Vlogs and a documentary/film called SOURCE TO SEA
SOURCE TO SEA is divided into three parts at the Youtube channel. The vlogs you can find on YouTube channel, but also in the map.
Premiere of Source to Sea in Pathe Movie theatre in The Hague
Expedition #5: WINDSURFING EXPEDITION FROM LE HAVRE TO SCHEVENINGEN | 2018
The Plastic Soup Surfer fights for the introduction of deposit fee in Europe as a means to prevent plastic bottles from being littered. This is the issue he addressed again in 2018 while surfing from Le Havre (FR) back to Scheveningen (NL) on a board made from recycled bottles.
the 3D printed surf board made from plastic bottles
trials for the plastic soup surfboard
Expedition #5: windsurfing from Le Havre to Scheveningen : the vlogs will tell the story of a true odyssey.....
In Le Havre he visited a landfill eroding into the ocean every high tide for the upcoming documentary PLASTIC PARADOX.
He launched a petition pro-deposit fee when visiting Flanders (Belgium) and his finish in Scheveningen was the kick-off to ‘World cleanup day’ in The Netherlands in which all participants in fighting plastic pollution are called upon to monitor what they pick-up.
But the winds were not in his favour this time......
If I have to, I will swim back to the Netherlands!
almost defeated by the wind.....
but he made it ... again!
The finish in Scheveningen and the start of World Clean Up day
Expedition #6: WAKKERE WEGWERPERS | SUPPING FROM MAASTRICHT TO SCHIERMONNIKOOG | 2020
Word Wakkere Wegwerper: Maak afvalscheiden in de klas normaal - Stap op je burgemeester af.
In 2020 he made a sup tour through The Netherlands and visited several primary schools. Pupils – Bright Binners - asked in a petition to be able to separate (plastic) waste in the classroom. But school waste is commercial waste and therefore separation is too expensive for most schools. We wanted to change this but the packaging industry refused to cooperate. D66 & CDA, two major political parties, then picked up on the issue. Thanks to their motion, this will soon be possible!
DAGPLANNING WAKKERE WEGWERPERS
Expedition #7: WAKKERE WEGWERPERS |SUPPING DEN HAM TO DEN HAAG | 2021
In September 2021 he made another SUP tour through the Netherlands to promote waste separation in schools. This time we are going to The Hague with our 'Bright Binners Values' to advocate this in the Dutch House of Representatives! Starting in the capillaries and ending in the heart . Meeting primary schools, mayors, politicians, educational organizations and members of the Plastic Avengers community along the way. We discuss the Bright Binners Values and talk about a better waste collection system.
From the capillaries to the heart
AND WHAT DOES THE PLASTIC SOUP SURFER DO NEXT TO THE SUPPING AND SURFING EXPEDITIONS ??
He has organised the first Plastic Avengers Conference
"To make the plastic transition happen we need the public to speak out"
The Plastic Soup Surfer is addressing the plastic warriors community
" We stand on the eve of a huge increase in global plastic production, waste and pollution. Therefore, time calls for a radical plastic transition."
At this conference the 150 activists of the Plastic Avengers community broke the plastic transition down into 5 simple chapters : the Plastic Avengers Manifest . The Manifest was handed over to EU executive vice-president Frans Timmermans.
The Plastic Avengers Manifest (graphic design by Martine Eyzenga ( diezijnvaardig.nl)
The Plastic Soup Surfer is informally handing over the Plastic Avengers Manifest to Frans Timmermans at the PES conference in Madrid.
The Plastic Soup Surfer is handing over the Plastic Avengers Manifest to Frans Timmermans again: this time it's formal!
He runs campaigns like:
The Upstream with the bailiffs campaign which is running continuously. We got to talk to CEOs and top managers of 10 supermarkets and soda companies: Coca Cola, Pepsi, Spa, Heineken, Albert Heijn, Aldi, Lidl, Jumbo, Superunie, Vrumona.
CAMPAIGNS :
Campaigns which were done together with "The zwerfinator" . Large retail companies have stopped selling highly polluting candywrappers, crackling balls, splashplastics, water balloons and plastic confetti; amendment in EU Green Deal.
the Plastic Soup Surfer and the Zwerfinator on a mission
This storymap tells how this campaign is set up, with a map of the collecting points, Vlogs and links about the campaign (in Dutch)
" Plastics is tangible and that makes change visible."
CUP COUNT CAMPAIGN : After plastic drinking bottles and cans, we are focusing on yet another wide spread litter product: plastic cups / cups containing plastic. The goal this time is not only to reduce litter caused by millions of plastic cups, but also to determine the price of disposing of drinking cups. Help us collect photos with the Plastic Avengers App
MISSION MARS CAMPAIGN : the wrappers of Mars products such as Mars, Snickers, M&M's and Bounty are one of the biggest sources of plastic pollution. In the first half of 2021 we collected over 15,000 photos of littered Mars wrappers and went to Mars to discuss their responsability for this. Dutch television paid attention to the plastic waste caused by Mars wrappers. Mars promised to find a solution.
He makes documentaries like Plastic Paradox and Source to Sea which was shown at several film houses, the Dutch Parliament and at the (Dutch) National Geographic channel.
Screening of the documentary in the Pathe theatre in The Hague
By organising Hackathons and launches Apps like the Plastic Avengers app. The Plastic Avengers app is designed to activate everyone to photograph and pick up litter.
Demonstrating the Plastic Avengers app.
He gives presentations regularly all over the country and abroad which enables him to influence the public debate on plastic.
He keeps the Plastic Avengers community updated on whats happening in the world of plastic through his own 'Plastic Soup Surfer' YouTube Channel or his "Let's talk plastic" online talkshows.
He has written a book. Plastic Soup Surfer. How One Person Can Make a Difference, about his exciting expeditions, good times and hard times, and successes in the battle against plastic litter, such as the introduction of a deposit on small plastic bottles and cans.
PLASTIC SOUP SURFER: THE BOOK ~ How one person can make a ddifference. Film by @Eelke Dekker
.... and last but not least.... he is always meeting with legislators, companies, members of the Plastic Avengers community and others trying to influence the public debate on plastic wherever he can.
"We need to close the tap on plastic. The plastic soup problem does not start in the oceans or in the rivers; it starts on land. So solutions should be found on land. We need to go 'Plastic Smart'. We need to step away from our 'throw away' culture and change to 'alternative behaviour' made possible by companies and backed by politicians and I won't stop until this plastic transition is complete!"
Foto by Eelkje Comjon
The Plastic Soup Surfer works with a small team of dedicated volunteers. He wants to be able react quickly when new opportunities and innovations arise. He believes in creativity in campaigning and his strategies and tactics develop all the time. But it is a long persistent fight and a full time job for him.
We need your support to stop plastic pollution at the source!
We cannot do it without your help.
Thank you for your attention!
