Surfrider Foundation Europe is a Non-Governmental Organisation (Association under the Law of 1901) dedicated to the protection and enhancement of the coastal environment. Its aim is the “defence, preservation, enhancement and sustainable management of the sea, the beaches, the waves and the population that enjoys it”.

Thanks to its paid Co-ordinators throughout Europe, its network of volunteer outposts (of which there are nearly 50) and more than 1000 volunteers, Surfrider has been able to implement various environmental protection initiatives.

These include the “Ocean Initiatives”, a worldwide campaign of raising awareness of the existence of macro-waste (waste of human origin present in the environment) accompanied by a clean-up campaign for the beaches and shores that is held annually. Local residents, clubs and other associations are invited to run their own clean-ups and consciousness-raising initiatives, with help of Surfrider hardware and software. With more than 800 “Ocean Initiatives” operations being held simultaneously in 2010, this means that several hundreds of cubic metres of macro-waste has been removed from beaches, thus serving to maintain awareness of the issue for the whole of society.

The awareness-raising campaigns led by Surfrider are also held on a more local scale, for instance, running environmental awareness operations with employees of companies such as Electrolux. The litter collection operation, in connection with the Vac from the Sea project, lasted for about two hours and nearly a cubic metre of macro-waste was removed. Seventy per cent of it consisted of plastic.

Benjamin van Hoorebeke, responsible for education at Surfrider Foundation Europe, explains the aim of this type of operation:

“Bringing the employees of a company such as Electrolux out into the field is vital for sensitizing them to the problem of macro-waste. They are thus able to see for themselves the extent of the pollution, encouraging them to improve the way they behave every day in their personal and working lives. This action, which is more than curative, finds its real usefulness in teaching ecologically responsible behaviour, so as to reduce pollution before it happens, rather than deal with the consequences thereafter.”

Previous Posts:
Robot Uses Lasers to Sort Plastic
The Majestic Plastic Bag
Making a People’s Vac
Start Collecting!
Eternal Debris
One Word
Date Set for Clean Up in Thailand
5 Gyres: Crossing the Gyres
5 Gyres: Plastic in the World's Oceans
Mainly Blue and White Plastic on Hawaiian Beaches
Understanding the Nature of Plastic Accumulation
Collecting Debris from the Pacific Ocean
Swedish News Channel Raises the Plastic Debris Issue
What is Plastic?
Plastiki Just Arrived in Sydney
Sustainable Futures - Can Design Make a Difference?
Creating Art out of Plastic Debris
Recycling Plastic - a Challenge
Date Set for Hawaii
At the Design Studio
Collecting Debris in Skagerrak, the North Sea
Fragile Coast
Making the Vacs
Collecting Plastic in the South of France
What is the Pacific Garbage Patch?
Plastic Recycling
Welcome to Vac from the Sea 
 

Welkom bij Vac from the Sea,

Onze oceanen zijn gevuld met plastic afval. En toch bestaat er aan land een tekort aan gerecycled plastic.

De aanvoer van duurzame ruwe materialen, zoals gerecycled plastic, is essentieel voor de productie van duurzame huishoudtoestellen en het ondersteunen van consumenten om hun huis milieuvriendelijker te maken.

Daarom hoop ik dat u samen met ons het bewustzijn wenst te vergroten m.b.t. de bedreiging die plastic vormt voor het leven in de zee, en beter te zorgen voor het reeds bestaande plastic.

Hans Stråberg President en CEO, Electrolux

Er bestaan geen exacte cijfers over de hoeveelheid plastic die gerecycled wordt.

Volgens het rapport "The Compelling facts About Plastics 2009, an analysis of European plastics production, demand and recovery for 2008” wordt ongeveer 20% van het consumentenplastic gerecycled in Europa, de verschillen in deze wereldstreek zijn ook enorm.

 

Ramsvik, nabij Smögen en Kungshamn, is een van de eerste plaatsen waar Electrolux gestart is met het verzamelen van plastic afval voor het Vac from the Sea-project. Vorige week werkten we samen met de plaatselijke gemeenschap en begaven we ons naar het Skagerrak-archipel om oceaanafval te verzamelen.

Elk jaar drijven er grote hoeveelheden afval langs de kusten van Bohuslän in Zweden. Stromingen uit de Noordzee en de Baltische Zee drijven het drijvende afval naar Skagerrak, waar het samenkomt en op onze kustgebieden geblazen wordt. Het overgrote deel van het materiaal is niet biologisch afbreekbaar en bestaat voor 80% uit plastic, maar ook olie, chemisch en medisch afval en militaire zaken worden teruggevonden. Het wordt opgeslagen op de zandbanken en vermengd met zeewier en grassen in de baaien en in rotsspleten.

Meer informatie en beelden volgen!

Earlier this year, Osaka University unveiled a recycling robot that uses lasers to sort different types of plastics. Most plastics are recyclable, but only 6 % end up in recycling bins. PET and PS are recycled but their production rates are low – 5 and 7.6% of the total plastic production, respectively. PE and PP have not been recycled as they are not distinguishable by eye, though their production rates are the highest; 23 and 22%, respectively. The recycling robot has laser “eyes” and sensors that can distinguish between six different types of plastics for easier recycling.

It is expected to reduce CO2 emission greatly by paving the way for recycling many kinds of plastics. The recycling robot won’t be in a home soon (it costs $55,000), but Osaka University researchers hope to produce a smaller version that would fit into an ordinary kitchen, close to the recycling and compost bins. The robot is designed by IDEC, the Photonics Advanced Research Center, and Mitsubishi Electric Engineering and the whole project is supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan.

Source: Osaka University, Japan.

Previous Posts:
The Majestic Plastic Bag
Making a People’s Vac
Start Collecting!
Eternal Debris
One Word
Date Set for Clean Up in Thailand
5 Gyres: Crossing the Gyres
5 Gyres: Plastic in the World's Oceans
Mainly Blue and White Plastic on Hawaiian Beaches
Understanding the Nature of Plastic Accumulation
Collecting Debris from the Pacific Ocean
Swedish News Channel Raises the Plastic Debris Issue
What is Plastic?
Plastiki Just Arrived in Sydney
Sustainable Futures - Can Design Make a Difference?
Creating Art out of Plastic Debris
Recycling Plastic - a Challenge
Date Set for Hawaii
At the Design Studio
Collecting Debris in Skagerrak, the North Sea
Fragile Coast
Making the Vacs
Collecting Plastic in the South of France
What is the Pacific Garbage Patch?
Plastic Recycling
Welcome to Vac from the Sea