There are many avid Zappers in our region who go out of their way to keep it clean and tidy. Some people go a step further. One of these people is Maarten Kerkhof.
Some 20-30 years ago, Maarten started picking up litter along the Lek River. He also collected litter from the grass at the Middelwaard recreation area for years. This was badly needed because otherwise it could not be mowed. Every morning he collected a rubbish bag full, often with the same products. Think of empty soda cans.
At the source
And exactly that got Maarten thinking. Case in point: For a while, Maarten walked the same way along the dyke. There, on a certain stretch, he found a lot of plastic cups (coming from a coffee machine). To put it to the test, he walked a bit further the next time. There, the number of cups decreased. Walking back, he saw a construction company along the route. There Maarten stepped inside.
The positive approach
The owner of the construction company was ashamed of what had happened. Because yes, it was indeed the cups from his coffee machine. A sticker on the vending machine already helped for some awareness. Maarten stresses that it is important to start the conversation and stay positive.
Be proud
Maarten's advice to (new) litter pickers: Be proud and stay positive! Very early on, Maarten was ashamed to pick up litter. Until he thought: 'I clean up litter for someone else and not from someone else.' That made a world of difference to him.
To measure is to know
Maarten now works as a river waste monitoring employee at GoClean Netherlands. Because collecting data is very important. With the outcome of this data, we can put pressure on e.g. plastic producers on a national level. Would you like to record what you have collected yourself? There are several ways to do so. Just take a look at the following websites: Supporter of Clean and WePlog.