De Grachtwacht

With 'De Grachtwacht', we focus on education, communication, research, and clean-ups to promote clean canals in the city of Leiden, the Netherlands, and make people aware of the urban nature in and around the canals. With our project Plastic Spotter and a fleet of clean-up canoes, volunteers clean up weekly to remove the plastic floating in our canals - before it reaches the sea. Not only do our volunteers clean up, together we also analyze where this waste comes from to prevent it from ending up in our canals in the first place. For example the litter from festivals, like the single-use plastic cups, we tackled, and currently, we are focussing on the litter from restaurant terraces, which are situated often near or even on the canals. In the bridge house on the Marebrug, right above the canal, we exhibit exciting litter finds and inform the public about the local plastic pollution, our canals, and the urban nature in Leiden.