Reuse

The social enterprise plastic fishing on Amsterdam canals

23 October Oct 2017 1606 23 October 2017

Plastic Whale fishes plastic waste on Amsterdam canals and at the port of Rotterdam, building then boats with recycled materials, with which they go plastic fishing. It’s the first professional plastic fishing company in the world

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Plastic Whale
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Plastic Whale fishes plastic waste on Amsterdam canals and at the port of Rotterdam, building then boats with recycled materials, with which they go plastic fishing. It’s the first professional plastic fishing company in the world

Plastic Whale is the first professional plastic fishing company in the world. It’s “ a social enterprise with a mission: make the world’s waters plastic-free and create value from plastic waste”, that the organisation fishes on Amsterdam canals, as reveals the website. Plastic Whale was born five years ago with a challenge: build a boat made with plastic waste, because the founders of the social enterprise wanted to do something to fight against the problem of waste polluting the waters, not only in Amsterdam, but also in the rest of the world.

Today the social enterprise has 6 boats, design objects, made with recycled plastic from Amsterdam canals. These boats are used to plastic fishing in the canals. The more bottles are fished in the canals, the more boats are built and if more boats are built more people can go plastic fishing. As of today 35.000 bottles and 560 plastic bags have been fished.

“Plastic waste is a growing, worldwide problem. Part of the problem is that people perceive plastic as a valueless disposable product. Use it once and then chuck it away! Plastic Whale wants to tackle this problem by showing people that plastic is not waste, but valuable raw material. That’s why we build beautiful design boats from plastic that we fish out the water”, explains Plastic Whale’s website.

Today it is also possible to do plastic fishing at the port of Rotterdam, besides on Amsterdam canals.

As explained by Marius Smit, founder of Plastic Whale, in the above video: “We have created the event Amsterdam Plastic Fishing to involve a larger number of people. People adore to go plastic fishing on the canals”. “ With all these people”, continues Smit, we have fished tons of plastic and tens of thousands of bottles. The aim is to involve as many people as possible, to fish much more waste and build many more boats, not only in Amsterdam, but also around the world”.

It is possible to go plastic fishing both as individuals and companies, helping the social enterpise reaching its goal. As individuals it is possible to do tours that show the highlights of the canals. If people don’t want to clean canals they can relax and enjoy the journey.

"Plastic fishing with one’s company is the ideal combination of fun, team building and making a positive contribution to plastic-free waters. More than 125 companies have already stepped aboard Plastic Whale’s boats".