Thousands of volunteers help clean up plastic soup in Friesland

Thousands of volunteers will help clean up the plastic soup swimming in the Friesian waters during the clean-up campaign Skjin Wetter from October 2 to October 9.

The Frisian Environment Federation started the campaign together with 30 organizations and six municipalities to rid the waters of the many plastic items that drift in the lakes, canals and waterways.

"Plastic is a threat to the underwater life in the Frisian lakes, canals and waterways," Jan van Weperen from the executive board of Wetterskip Friesland told metro. "Skjin Wetter is a great action, but I hope that it eventually makes itself redundant. What doesn't end up in the water, we don't have to take."

The Plastic Soup Foundation estimated that plastic production will increase by 40 percent in the upcoming ten years.

"If we don't do anything against the plastic soup, there will be more weight in plastic than fish in the water than fish," the United Nations wrote on their website.

Last year, volunteers scoped 650 kilometers of waterways for plastic.

Friesian residents can participate in a raffle to guess the current number of kilometers that will be cleaned this year.

On Wednesday, author and political scientist Michiel Roscam Abbing will hold a webinar on the dangerous effect of plastic in the water for humans, animals and the environment