Starboard Ocean Ambassador Merijn Tinga has just arrived in London after an 1800km journey all the way from Oslo. Travelling to support calls for the introduction of a UK bottle deposit scheme. But Merijn did not travel by your usual transportation. The Dutch activist made the trip on a windsurf board made from recycled Styrofoam, fungal threads and single-use plastic bottles (from the Thames!).
During his last expedition in 2015, Merijn found the amount of plastic waste littering the Scandinavian coast line shocking. A closer look at the labels, showed that many of the plastic bottles, had traveled across the sea all the way from the Netherlands and the UK.
This Oslo to London expedition was an opportunity to return these plastic bottles with a simple message – Deposit systems are the most effective way to combat litter at it’s source.
Along his windsurf expedition, Merijn stopped off to visit former ministers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, all of which have instituted deposit systems. Collecting vital lessons learned to aid with the development of law in the UK.
In partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and Surfers against Sewage, Merijn handed over the lessons to UK Environment Minister Mrs. Rebecca Pow in London as a Message in a Bottle, together with the signed letters to mrs. Pow.
The timing could not be more important, as Scottish ministers announced last month that they would be postponing plans for a deposit scheme that they intended to launch in 2024. The UK government previously announced plans to launch a deposit return scheme in 2025, to enable people to return bottles at machines and get cash back.
So what was the result?
During and after the expedition the Plastic Soup Surfer and his campaign recieved a lot of media coverage. This even included a primetime item on the BBC. In the week after the expedition, listeneres could still hear Merijn on BBC Radio.
On the final day of the expedition, Merijn met with ministers, politicians and even representatives from Coca-Cola in Westminster. As a result he’s been invited to follow-up discussions in September, another opportunity to push bottle deposit scheme.
Learn more about the Plastic Soup Surfers expedition in his own words in this great interview with Severne Windsurfing.
