Volunteers fishing plastic out of Amsterdam canals

Around 500 hundred young people are expected to help remove plastic waste from the famous Amsterdam canals on Friday. Small electric boats will navigate the waterways as crews scoop plastic out with fishing nets.

The boats will set sail from Nassaukade and wind their way through different canals until they reach the IJ. Another team will also collect plastic on the beach in nearby Zandvoort.

The project, called Trash Hunt, is an idea of JCI Nederland, a network of resourceful young people whose global parent organization boasts more than 170,000 members worldwide.

The plastic collected will be used for different purposes. Bottles will go to Plastic Whale, which constructs boats from the reclaimed material. Other plastic items will go to Wasteboards, which can turn them into skateboards. The rest of the waste will either be recycled by the Amsterdam municipality, or disposed.

Amsterdam is hosting the 2017 JCI World Congress, which started on Tuesday.