Measure with us! 

Plastic litter pollutes our beaches and the North Sea. On average, there are more than 200 pieces of litter per 100 meters, but for a healthy sea, we need to reduce this to 20 pieces. Better preventive litter policy is therefore needed now to ensure that we turn off the tap and prevent plastic from ending up in the environment.  

Meet Mee provides beach litter data in one central location. To measure is to know, but the current beach litter data is too fragmented and inaccessible for parties active on and around the beach to work on prevention. With the Meet Mee project, Stichting De Noordzee (The North Sea Foundation) is scaling up litter research along the Dutch coast with the help of many citizen scientists and the support of the Spronck Foundation. Every year in March and October, people head to the beaches to do their monitoring.  

The results of these measurements are entered into a public, interactive dashboard with real-time litter data trends and insight into the effects of litter policy. This will enable, for example, coastal municipalities to see whether a smoke-free beach has a long-term effect on the number of cigarette butts on the beach. Or a local beachcombers’ club can check whether the number of tie wraps found decreases between seasons when beach pavilions are being set up.  

Campaigns for better beach litter policy: Organizations and the general public can use this beach litter dashboard to run campaigns to encourage governments and businesses to tackle the source of the problem and improve litter policy. Policymakers can also use the dashboard to see what litter policy is needed.  

Data forms the basis for action and a cleaner North Sea (coast)! In addition to its practical impact, the project also has scientific ambitions. Utrecht University can use the data to further develop its predictive model for litter strandings. 

Meet Mee thus creates a movement of citizen scientists on the coast and the first national, interactive beach litter dashboard. Citizen science as a springboard for better policy!