Watertrek volunteers have paddled down the Orne River (French Normandy) between Thury-Harcourt and the Pont de Brie as part of World Clean-Up Day last Saturday, on September 21, 2019. During their 3 hours of paddling, they collected numerous tires, a washing machine drum, an iron, various plastic and glass bottles, along with far too many plastic bags and wipes wrapped around trees & branches, those being particularly hard to remove.

Emmanuelle, Watertrek’s employee; Oriane, who studies legislation & sustainable development in Leiden, Antoine & Mathieu, paddlers from the Cotentin area, and Severine our co-founder were joined by Antoine Bruge, who is in charge of the development of a protocol meant to map macro-waste in rivers and works for Surfrider Foundation in Biarritz. The two structures hope to join forces and build a solid partnership to further study pollution along river banks and use common tools and protocols. 80% of the litter found at sea comes from the land, it is therefore important to act upstream and ensure the protection of those fundamental ecosystems.S