Make the World Great Again

How many years does it take for a plastic straw to degrade? On a hot summer evening in a steaming houseboat in Amsterdam, there was excitement and deep concentration. The crowded room was quiet and the audience kept their eyes on the screen, because the Plastic Diet quiz of Opgemärkt was about to start!

During a very cool festival, called Make The World Great Again, Opgemärkt organised an interactive quiz where the participants were confronted with their relationship with plastic in a fun way. How many plastic bottles have you actually used in the past month? Didn't you use any bottle because you are taking your own reusable bottle wherever you go or did you go YOLO to the max by using more than 10?

During the quiz, the Plastic Diet Tinder skills of the participants were also tested. Famous people such as Donald Trump and Paris Hilton could, among other things, be swept left or right. The general knowledge of the audience on plastic pollution was also tested; do you know how much plastic ends up in the ocean every minute? A wheelbarrow, a Tesla or a truck?

After a tough series of questions, the winners were announced. Or actually, the losers. Name shaming Opgemärkt-style? Not at all! The people with the least number of good answers, won a set of Sipster bamboo straws....to experience that switching to eco-friendly alternatives is actually pretty easy!

Guest blog by Opgemärkt - a sustainability community in The Netherlands. Cool fact: every year Opgemärkt organises the Plastic Dieet campaign to challenge people to ditch plastic disposables for a month. Ready to join the the challenge this September? Visit their website.