Building boats at Clean2Anywhere is not only about boats. It’s mostly about people. That’s why we started building a boat with youngsters.
After having finished the first Dutch werkboot of waste plastic, we decided to build a second one. And we also decided to get more people involved in the construction of this boat. Young people, more specifically, who are right now outside of the job market.
It’s a bit of an experiment in itself. We began a pilot project with WerkSaam Westfriesland, an organization that guides people out of a benefit situation back to work or school. Right now, we see this collaboration it as a win-win situation. We need more people to help us build boats, and these young people need an intermediate place in a safe space to take a first step towards work or school.
Most of these people find themselves in a challenging situation. Overworked, in debt or housing problems. Or simply lost their jobs by the consequences of the lockdown. Whatever the cause, in this new program we build a boat together from waste plastic and meanwhile give them lots of space to discover what they are good at.
For most, an intermediate step at Clean2Anywhere is a chance to return to society. Or as participant Suus describes it to local news station NH Nieuws: ‘This is a chance to return to society and do something back for the world.”
Suus: ‘We are bringing plastic into the world in a different way. Instead of plastic going into the sea and killing small fish, we can build a boat and create a new collaboration. I think it’s beautiful to participate in that.’
Watch the whole video item of NH Nieuws here (in Dutch).
This re-integration project is a practical activity in one of the pillars that are important to us: inclusivity. Not only do we strive towards a circular society where we treat materials with respect, we also strive towards a world in which everyone can join.
