Plastic Soep

22 May 2026

A creative evening at Naturalis: biodiversity and the Plastic Soup

On Friday evening, 22 May, Naturalis opened its doors for a special evening to mark World Biodiversity Day. Visitors were treated to inspiring talks, cabaret, workshops, a pub quiz, a VR experience and live music. You didn’t need to be a plant expert or a keen birdwatcher to enjoy yourself here; there was something for everyone to discover.

During my workshops, I made an appeal that immediately drew surprised and puzzled looks: “Will you come and help make the Plastic Soup a bit bigger?”

Of course, that wasn’t the intention in the literal sense. Instead, we used plastic waste as a way to spark a creative discussion about the problem of plastic pollution in our oceans. The result was a fantastic and inspiring evening full of enthusiastic creators and surprising ideas.

The participants created a wide variety of designs: from colourful jellyfish and impressive stingrays to imaginative submarines that could clean up the Plastic Soup. It was wonderful to see just how much creativity was unleashed when waste is given a new lease of life.

For the workshop, I’d brought along crates full of collected plastic: bits of ship’s rope from the beach, medical waste, construction offcuts and all sorts of shampoo bottles and packaging. What is normally regarded as rubbish now formed the basis for works of art and discussions about sustainability, reuse and the impact of plastic on our biodiversity.

Looking back, it was an evening full of inspiration, creativity and awareness. Exactly what you hope for on a day when we reflect on both the richness and the fragility of life on Earth.