Surfing against disposable waste from Brussels to Amsterdam

Dutch surfer Merijn Tinga will start a 385-kilometre surf trip from Brussels to Amsterdam on Friday 1 July. He is doing this on an electric surfboard made from disposable cups.

Rob Buurman

29 Jun 2022

On Sunday at 3 pm, European Commissioner Frans Timmermans will speak on the Korenlei in Ghent about the European Commission's new plans in the fight against single-use plastics and packaging waste (Watch the video report on the website of the European Commission). He is doing so on the occasion of the Mission Rescue expedition of Plastic Soup Surfer Merijn Tinga. He is going to Ghent to demonstrate his electric surfboard made of disposable cups. Together with Mission Reuse, Enviu, Natuur & Milieu and Recycling Netwerk Benelux, Tinga wants to firmly anchor the transition from polluting disposable cups to reusable cups in Belgian, Dutch and European policy. On his surf trip through Belgium, he will make stopovers in Antwerp (2 July), Dendermonde and Ghent. On 3 July in Ghent, European Commissioner Frans Timmermans will tell more about the plans he is presenting this autumn to further reduce packaging waste and encourage reuse. 5 million disposable cups every morning, 385 kilometres long Every morning, in the Netherlands alone, 5 million coffee cups end up in the waste. In a row, this is 385 kilometres. That is exactly the distance Merijn Tinga will cover. The surfboard contains 500 cups. So every morning in the Netherlands, a volume of coffee cups the size of 10,000 surfboards is thrown away. Merijn Tinga is known in the Netherlands as the 'Plastic Soup Surfer': “If disposable cups are banned tomorrow, not a single cup of coffee less needs to be drunk, all solutions are at hand. Given the state of our planet, we must move away from single-use and 'reuse' must become the new norm as quickly as possible. Together with Mission Reuse, we show how easy that can be.” Single-use packaging consumes a lot of raw materials and energy As soon as the last sip of coffee is finished, the coffee cup has become worthless to the user. They end up in the bin or end up as litter, are incinerated and in a few cases recycled, but not into coffee cups. The most useful application that remains is toilet paper. This means we lose and burn valuable, increasingly scarce, raw materials. The example of the coffee cup illustrates the larger problem of today's disposable economy. It takes a huge amount of raw materials and energy to make those single-use products such as shampoo bottles, nappies or packaging for online orders. The problem is that current business models and consumer habits are entirely based on single use. Current policy also facilitates this single use of packaging. Mission Reuse is committed to making the transition to reusable concrete and to accelerating it. By campaigning, helping entrepreneurs and making proposals for legislation and regulations. What does good policy consist of? We ask for the following: No sustainability targets on recycling, but on reuse of the entire product An ambitious implementation of the Single Use Plastic Directive, in which prevention and reuse play the leading role The municipality facilitates hospitality businesses and offices that want to get started with reuse, so that not everyone has to reinvent the same wheel About the organisations Mission Reuse is an initiative of environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux, the authority in the field of single-use plastics and reuse, the impact venture builder Enviu, and the Natuur & Milieu foundation. The transition programme Mission Reuse focuses on government, business and consumers. With pilots, lobbying and research, the organisation wants to offer concrete alternatives for reuse. Currently, pilots are running with e-commerce players, universities and festivals. The Plastic Soup Surfer draws attention through campaigns to single-use plastics that end up in the waste through surfing campaigns and lobbying towards government and business. The organisations are joining forces in this campaign against single-use coffee cups. In the media Attention for the danger of disposable coffee cups | Lifestyle | Telegraaf.nl Merijn Tinga fights against disposable cups while surfing: 'The solutions are there, but the switch has to be made' | Leidschdagblad From Brussels to Amsterdam on a surfboard of coffee cups | Sleutelstad Plastic Soup Surfer fights against disposable cups | Sleutelstad https://www.maassluis.nu/tag/plastic-soup/ https://www.pzc.nl/gent/plastic-soup-surfer-meert-aan-in-gent-pionier-op-vlak-van-hergebruik~a65f30bf/ Plastic Soup Surfer Merijn Tinga also fights against single-use beverage packaging on Groene Dender | Dendermonde | hln.be “Plastic Soup Surfer” Merijn Tinga surfs 385 kilometres with a board made of disposable cups between Brussels and Amsterdam | VRT NWS Anti-disposable cup campaign starting early July AfvalOnline Plastic Soup Surfer surfs 385 kilometres from Brussels to Amsterdam on a surfboard of disposable cups Latest & Marketing Surfing 385 kilometres on a surfboard made of disposable cups • Trade Journal Recycling Magazine Benelux https://www.ab-magazine.nl/nieuws/evenementen

Together with Mission Reuse, Enviu, Natuur & Milieu and Recycling Netwerk Benelux, Tinga wants to firmly anchor the transition from polluting disposable cups to reusable cups in Belgian, Dutch and European policy.

On his surf trip through Belgium, he will make stopovers in Antwerp (2 July), Dendermonde and Ghent. On 3 July in Ghent, European Commissioner Frans Timmermans will tell more about the plans he is presenting this autumn to further reduce packaging waste and encourage reuse.

5 million disposable cups every morning, 385 kilometres long

Merijn Tinga is known in the Netherlands as the ‘Plastic Soup Surfer’: “If disposable cups are banned tomorrow, not a single cup of coffee less needs to be drunk, all solutions are at hand. Given the state of our planet, we must move away from single-use and 'reuse' must become the new norm as quickly as possible. Together with Mission Reuse, we show how easy that can be.”

Single-use packaging consumes a lot of raw materials and energy

The example of the coffee cup illustrates the larger problem of today's disposable economy. It takes a huge amount of raw materials and energy to make those single-use products such as shampoo bottles, nappies or packaging for online orders. The problem is that current business models and consumer habits are entirely based on single use. Current policy also facilitates this single use of packaging.

Mission Reuse is committed to making the transition to reusable concrete and to accelerating it. By campaigning, helping entrepreneurs and making proposals for legislation and regulations.

What does good policy consist of?

We ask for the following:

No sustainability targets on recycling, but on reuse of the entire product

An ambitious implementation of the Single Use Plastic Directive, in which prevention and reuse play the leading role

The municipality facilitates hospitality businesses and offices that want to get started with reuse, so that not everyone has to reinvent the same wheel

About the organisations

Mission Reuse is an initiative of environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux, the authority in the field of single-use plastics and reuse, the impact venture builder Enviu, and the Natuur & Milieu foundation. The transition programme Mission Reuse focuses on government, business and consumers. With pilots, lobbying and research, the organisation wants to offer concrete alternatives for reuse. Currently, pilots are running with e-commerce players, universities and festivals.

The Plastic Soup Surfer draws attention through campaigns to single-use plastics that end up in the waste through surfing campaigns and lobbying towards government and business. The organisations are joining forces in this campaign against single-use coffee cups.