London-Paris is the continuation of last summer's expedition. Back then, I windsurfed from Oslo to London (1800km), returning English stray bottles that had washed up on the Swedish coast. In Westminster, I advocated for the rapid introduction of deposit systems.
By surfing from London to Paris (900km) I once again wish to raise awareness on the plastic pollution problem and its sollutions. (London-Paris will be our 10th surfing campaign!)
The board on which I will continue windsurfing to the Eiffel Tower this June will contain bottles from the Seine; collected in the center of Paris. The expedition will start on June 22nd in London and i hope to finish on July 10th in Paris - just before the Olympic Games. I will windsurf the first 550km to the mouth of the Seine at Le Havre. After that, I will continue paddleboarding to Paris.
On the shores and on the banks of the river I will engage with recyclers, environmental organizations, parliamentarians, and mayors about litter solutions and deposit systems. (London-Paris will mark our 10th surfing campaign!)
While completing my second expedition in 2015, I was struck by the amount of plastic waste lining the Scandinavian coast. A closer look at the still legible labels, showed that these bottles, carried by the ocean’s currents and wind, had traveled across the sea all the way from the Netherlands and the UK.
The goal of last summer’s expedition was to symbolically bring these bottles home. I've windsurfed 1800 km from Oslo to London on a board made from littered bottles - from the river Thames - and recycled EPS, flaxen and mycelium (very strong biodegradable mushroom thread).
In the Netherlands each day 200 thousand plastic bottles were littered in our streets, parks and waterways. Untill the summer of 2021. Thats when a deposit return scheme was introduced. First for bottles and 2 years later for cans. This financial incentive, giving an empty bottle or can 15cent value, has reduced litter by over 80% in total for beverage containers.
Furthermore: public trash bins are filled 75% less, resulting in fewer litter problems caused by overflowing bins, wind and birds.
Deposit systems are the most effective way to combat litter at it’s source. The UK government plans to introduce deposits on plastic bottles and cans by October 2025, however a plan has yet to be defined. I know from my own experience how influential the opposition from supermarkets and other corporations can be, so it’s critical that an effective law be written and instituted
To aid the development of the UK law, I gathered lessons learned from the countries that previously introduced DRS. I offered these lessons offered to me by the former ministers of Norway and the Netherlands together with a letters co-signed by Coca Cola and several UK NGO's. In partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and Surfers against Sewage, I presented these letters and lessons in Westminster to the MP's and Lords - Read the signed letter here.
I build a new surfboard for each of my expeditions. While my previous boards were constructed mostly of littered bottles, when it comes to materials my current focus is on circularity i.e. creating a board made of both recycled and biodegradable materials. The board for this expedition will be constructed of:
My expedition from Oslo to London, between June 17th to July 19th, was an exciting surf adventure across one of the North Sea’s main plastic soup routes. My journey was challenging as I travelled against the wind and currents to return litter back to it’s source. At night I slept under my sail.
Troughout my expedition, I kept a video diary - which you can see on our Instagram channel. I made podcasts (in Dutch) about the perils and adventures during my expedition.
I am not accusing the material, but the way we put it to use. Plastic is a catalyst to our throw-away society.
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