Friesland tracks plastic waste flow to the Wadden Sea
Friesland is launching a project to track how plastic waste from the province ends up in the Wadden Sea. Over the next three years, the movement of plastic debris in surface waters will be monitored using GPS-equipped drifters. The first five orange buoys were launched Friday in the Leeuwarden Prinsentuin park, marking the beginning of their journey. Similar drifters will be deployed later in Sneek and Dokkum.
The trackers, roughly the size of a soda bottle, will be monitored as they drift in the water. Cameras will be placed under bridges to capture and document floating waste, while artificial intelligence will be used to analyze the data. Fine-mesh nets will be installed in multiple locations to filter microplastics from the water, according to Friesland officials.
The drifters are subject to currents and wind, and their movements will be tracked remotely. “Once they approach the Wadden Sea, we’ll have enough data,” said a spokesperson from Noria Sustainable, the Delft-based company leading the project. By the end of the three-year study, there will be enough information to implement specialized capture systems at identified "hotspots" to remove plastic waste from the water.
Previous studies by the Wadden Academy have shown that around three-quarters of the plastic waste in the Wadden Sea originates from the Netherlands. Friesland aims to determine how much of that plastic comes from the province's inland waters. “Plastic waste is a growing environmental issue, particularly in ecosystems in inland waters and at sea. Plastic does not decompose but breaks down into smaller particles, which can harm both animal and human health,” said Friesland province officials.
The project, which has a total cost of more than 1.2 million euros, is being funded with support from the Wadden Fund, which contributes nearly half of the total. Additional funding is reportedly provided by the province, Wetterskip Fryslân, and the municipalities of Leeuwarden and Súdwest-Fryslân.
