Startup in Residence The Hague
Wicked problem: waste @Scheveningen beach, #beachwaste
Expert: Annelies Rebel and Maaike Nuij
Topic: Livable city
Startup in Residence
After a successful Startup in Residence program in San Francisco and Amsterdam, The Hague now also invites startups to come up with smart solutions for these ‘wicked’ urban problems. The municipality of The Hague has defined eight quests that need to be solved. Deadline for registration: July 4th.
Waste
Scheveningen is the biggest beach resort in the Netherlands and attracts over nine million visitors every year. The wide sandy beach at Scheveningen is 3 km long and is right next to the boulevard including a wide promenade where you can shop till you drop. Literally, in one of the many restaurants between the harbor and the famous pier a few steps from the Kurhaus. From spring till autumn the beach is enriched with 50 beach restaurants. Once the sun shines the beach gets crowded, attracting relatively young public and heaps of tourists.
Maaike Nuij-Dols:
“The beaches near The Hague attract 16 million visitors every year. After a busy day on the beach, a team of 20 to 25 people clean the beach. They at 10.00 p.m. and work all night until the beach is clean at around 8.00 a.m. I challenge the start-ups to come up with various ideas to prevent litter ending up on the beach and innovative ideas to manage waste flows. Because everyone likes a clean beach, don’t they?”
On peak days, all these visitors generate a lot of waste which is cleared up by our own cleaning team during the night. However, what cannot be cleared away in time ends up in the sea, causing what we call Plastic Soup. In order to tackle pollution at the source, we ask the following question:
Free of waste
How do we ensure that The Hague motivates beachgoers in a smart way to leave the beach free of waste after their stay. The measures must not discourage visitors to come to the beach (as we want to encourage them to come!).
Does your startup have a smart solution to tackle this problem? And are you ready to submit your short proposal? Do it now, before July 4! We are looking forward to reading your ideas.
The post Wicked problem: waste at Scheveningen beach appeared first on Impact City The Hague Innovators.