Plastic Soup Foundation
Stop the plastic soup tsunami as soon as possible! If we do not achieve this, we are leaving future generations with a terrible plastic plague. We are a ‘single issue’ environmental organization that is concerned with only one thing: stopping plastic pollution at its source.
As part of this mission, we call out the industry and government where they fall short. We also put a special focus on the relationship between plastics and human health. Our recent work in this field includes campaigns on microplastics and the health effects of plastic waste, and especially our Plastic Health Summit. Finally, education underlies everything we do, as we believe that children are the future.
We, humans, are the source of plastic pollution; the plastic soup starts on our very own doorstep. But together we can do much more to stop plastic waste than we think!
Mission & Vision
Our slogan is ‘No plastic in our waters or our bodies’. We combat the plastic soup at its source and therefore, we focus on three main goals:
prevent plastic from ending up in the environment
share knowledge about the health risks related to plastics and plastic additives
achieve absolute reduction in the production and use of plastic
Plastic has fantastic properties and is extremely cheap to produce, which is why almost everything around us is made it. We are in contact with it all the time. Because plastic in the environment breaks down into tiny particles, we are also constantly eating, drinking, and breathing in plastic particles.
The realization that constantly being exposed to plastic can have harmful consequences for our health is slowly dawning on the public. The first scientists have already found evidence for this.
Our approach
Be aware: The Plastic Soup Foundation constantly draws attention to plastic soup through campaigns, news articles and social media.
Get educated: Anyone who wants to find out more about plastic soup is in the right place when they come to us. The Plastic Soup Foundation has developed educational programs for primary and secondary schools since 2016, and in 2018 we launched a new digital education program for primary schools and in 2019 for secondary schools. In addition, we work together with experts, politicians, organizations, universities and companies which have similar missions or visions.
Find solutions: The Plastic Soup Foundation stimulates all possible (innovative) solutions which help tackle the causes of plastic soup at source. Measures which prevent plastic entering the environment, water and possibly ending up in the sea have the greatest impact in our opinion. This includes reducing the amount of single-use consumer plastics, the development of a plastic footprint for companies as well as smart devices which collect plastic in waterways.
Global sustainability goals and plastic soup
In September 2015, the United Nations determined the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This agenda comprises the seventeen well-known Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All Member States have an effort obligation to adjust their policies so that these goals will indeed be achieved in 2030. Many organizations and companies have now also embraced the agenda and use the sustainability goals as a guide for their actions.
None of the seventeen SDGs specifically has plastic soup as its main subject. Meanwhile, the effects of the plastic soup are clearer and clearer and the problem is increasingly prominent on the international agenda. In July 2017, the United Nations met on the implementation of SDG 14, ("Preserve and make sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources"), and the world adopted a resolution: "Our Ocean, our future: call for action". All countries agreed to intensify their efforts to prevent pollution of the oceans, among others by aiming to reduce plastics and microplastics. There was special attention for the reduction of Single Use Plastic (SUP), single use packaging plastics in particular.