The organisation called Duik de Noordzee Schoon has managed to get 2500 kg of waste from the North Sea, they said in a statement. Their expedition lasted for nine days where they were looking for things that did not belong in the sea – clothes, kitchen utensils, rugs, toys, car parts etc.
They have had around 14 expeditions since they were established in 2011, and have got around 60,000 kg of waste in total from the North Sea. These expeditions can only be carried out by experienced divers because of the extreme conditions they would find themselves in. They are funded by the volunteers themselves, and from other sponsors.
Where did the waste come from?
It wasn’t necessarily waste that was discarded by people with no civic responsibility. A lot of this waste came out of the shipwreck from the MSC Zoe (nearly 500 kg), earlier this year. It is the largest container ship in Europe with a capacity of 19,000 containers. During a particularly terrible storm, 270 of the containers fell off the ship. There might still be 50 containers still out at sea.
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They say that upon their discovery of this waste, they believe that if we act fast, we will still be able to retrieve most of the waste. We should not be waiting too long as “disposal becomes virtually impossible because a lot of waste disappears under the sand”.
The rest 2000 kg was of mainly fishing nets discarded at the sea. They also focussed on other shipwrecks that happened between Ameland and Schiermonnikoog.
Don’t you love hearing about people being committed to causes only for the better of the environment, and are not incentivised by any other material gains. What do you make of this? Let us know in the comments below!
Feature Image: Andreas Schau/Pixabay