This is Tinga's tenth long-distance surfing expedition. The surfing activist wants France to introduce deposit systems for plastic bottles as soon as possible.
He will once again be surfing on a windsurfing board made partly from plastic bottles that he has collected from the Seine in Paris. Last summer, he surfed from Oslo to London to symbolically return plastic bottles that had drifted across the North Sea from the UK to Norway.
Tinga hopes to arrive in Paris on 11 July. In Paris, he will be welcomed by the mayor Anne Hidalgo. "With her help, I am organising a conference at L' Academie du Climat on the return of deposits on the evening of my arrival. I would like to use this conference to reach concrete agreements," explains the Dutchman.
Surfing expedition to the source
During his sailing and surfing trips, Tinga has seen a lot of rubbish from the UK, but also from France. For example, he found plastic bottles from England and the Netherlands on the Swedish and Norwegian coasts due to the ocean currents. Deposit systems have been in place in the Scandinavian countries for years, but they are still contaminated with waste from other countries. Just like in England, deposit systems have also been under discussion in France for years. Tinga: "I want to use my trip to accelerate the introduction of deposit systems in France. Plastic waste from France ends up on our North Sea coasts. With this expedition, I want to symbolically bring these French plastic bottles back to the source."
Campaign against plastic pollution
Along the way, the Plastic Soup Surfer will stop at various locations to raise awareness of plastic pollution, take part in beach clean-ups carried out in his name and speak to mayors and environmental organisations along the coast. "Last year's expedition from Oslo to London was the most challenging and intense journey yet. And although the London to Paris route is shorter, I expect this surf trip to be just as exhausting, especially as I have to paddle against the current of the Seine to reach Paris. Sometimes I feel like a 'surf stalker', a huge effort to talk to a few decision makers who I know can make the difference. And through them, my campaign can make a difference."
Mushroom Surfboard
Tinga is originally a biologist and artist. He makes his own surfboards from plastic waste. In this case from plastic bottles from the Seine in Paris, the Thames in London, recycled polystyrene and fungal threads (mycelium). By using these new materials, he wants to prove that there are various recyclable and sustainable alternatives and that plastic is often superfluous. He built the surfboard together with the well-known surfboard builder Ron van den Berg, students from the Inholland University of Applied Sciences and Synprodo, a company that produces one hundred per cent recycled polystyrene.
