KIMO Netherlands & Belgium's role:
KIMO initiated and coordinates Fishing for Litter, supplying participating fishermen with Big Bags and coordinating collection, monitoring, processing and stakeholder cooperation.
Fishing for Litter is KIMO Netherlands & Belgium's flagship project and has operated since 2000.
Participating fishermen voluntarily collect marine litter caught in their nets and bring it ashore in specially provided Big Bags. Participating ports receive the waste, which is collected and processed by waste contractor Bek & Verburg. The programme also monitors the collected material, providing information about the quantity and composition of marine litter and helping identify its sources. All Dutch fishing ports now participate, and more than 9 million kilograms of waste had been removed from the sea by June 2026. The project demonstrates how fishermen, ports, municipalities, government and waste-management organisations can work together to reduce marine litter and recover materials for recycling.
Project partners:
KIMO/VNKG; participating fishermen and fishing ports; Rijkswaterstaat; Bek & Verburg; Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management; European Commission.