On 26 April the LIVES project held an international litter clean-up on the banks of the Meuse at Kessenich (Belgium) to raise awareness about plastic in rivers and streams. 70 volunteers cleared 500 kg of litter. Tiny pieces of plastic, known as nurdles and mini-plastics, turned out to be the biggest polluters.
LIVES | Project cleans up 500 kg of litter to raise awareness about ‘plastic soup’
27 apr 2019
The LIVES project is starting this spring and will develop policies to decrease the amount of plastic in rivers and streams across the Euregio. Hosted by partners Vlaamse Waterweg nv (BE) and Rijkswaterstaat (NL), the clean-up in Kessenich aimed at raising awareness of the problem of litter. The event started with a presentation on how plastic waste from agriculture, industry and households gets in to streams and rivers. Ultimately, the plastic debris flows to the sea where it creates the ‘plastic soup’.
Background
Nurdles and mini-plastics pose a danger because they cause the ‘plastic soup’. Water treatment plant cannot filter out all nurdles and mini-plastics because of their small size, causing them to get into streams and rivers. This causes large-scale pollution that is not directly visible to the human eye. The tiny plastic components are a danger to animals and humans. They get into the stomachs of fish and other animals, and ultimately, in the bodies of humans.
LIVES project
The Interreg project LIVES (Litter Free Rivers and Streams) is a cross-border effort to reduce plastic waste in the river Meuse. It aims to reduce the plastic waste by 50% by the end of the project in 2021.
LIVES (Litter free Rivers and Streams) is led by Provincie Limburg and receives EUR 825.000 from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
