Beach Clean-Ups

On the left, founders Joshua and Ainu, after a two-person beach cleanup.

We didn't expect to find so much rubbish on Terschelling, but even the deserted beach of this small island turns out to be no match for the trash. We only needed half an hour before our hands were more than full.

What was the most impressive find?

A small juice box with a still readable expiry date of 8-11-2005. It's crazy that products like these stay well-preserved for so long. However, it also motivates and shows again that waste won't go on its own.

Are there any more cleanups on the agenda?

Yes! A City Cleanup in Amsterdam on 17 September. With a team of volunteers, we'll clean a part of the city, and we're already excited for the haul. Together we'll surely collect more than the two of us did on Terschelling.

So, join us, and roll up your sleeves in honour of World Cleanup Day. We'll start at 11:00 in front of the Joost van den Vondel statue in the Vondelpark. More info is on this page.

What do we do?

At Bamboovement, we offer a range of eco-friendly products to inspire people to live more sustainably. However, it doesn’t stop there. Witnessing first-hand the effects of plastic on our environment got us started with our movement in the first place. We want to share how we can contribute as a collective group to a cleaner future with as many people as we can, including you.

Beach clean-ups

We run multiple activities to promote a conscious and eco-friendly way of living. One of them being beach clean-ups. In 2020, we joined the beach clean-up network of Good Karma Projects, a Spanish NGO that has set up multiple projects on education and awareness towards sustainability.

Our colleague Marco Ghioldi, who organises beach clean-ups with local volunteers, says: “Beach clean-ups are a learning opportunity for everyone. It makes you think about the impact of the non-biodegradable stuff that we are using and how it’s affecting the environment.“

The purpose of beach clean-ups

Beaches are bridges between land and marine ecosystems. They are rich in biodiversity and are breeding grounds for many animals. That’s why cleaning our beaches is a small step toward protecting diverse ecosystems.

Ocean pollution is an emergency and should be treated as such. As most waste comes from the mainland and rivers, we have to realise the impact we have on our oceans. By organising beach clean-ups, we intend to educate people on how our consumption behaviour can impact all around the planet.

Classifying waste

Waste classification is needed to learn more about the state of the coast and the different types of trash polluting it. By identifying the most common waste items, environmental groups such as Good Karma Projects can build a solid case to tackle the problem at its core.

We intend to save some of the collected waste and collaborate with artists to turn it into art projects. Do you have any ideas? Don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d love to hear from you!

Precious Plastic’s recycling machine

As plastic is still unavoidable in every aspect of our life, we look at ways to give it a new life. Besides, recycling plastic is a great activity during our classes on plastic pollution.

Precious Plastic is a Dutch-based organisation that creates various machines that enables anybody to start recycling.

Collaboration

We collaborate with ART Surf Camp and Teiron Surf. Together we joined the Precious Plastic Global Community as a recycling workspace for collecting and shredding plastic.

Our next step is to create another plastic injection moulding machine to turn the shredded plastic into new products. With the current shredder, we can crush plastic types 1, 2 and 5. Are you interested to learn more about our recycling project? Then, subscribe to our newsletter and stay up-to-date. The form to sign up is in the footer.