“Plastic Planet” - Young Bach sponsors experiment at the Konzer Bach

How heavily polluted is the Konz stream with plastic? And what can we do with this plastic? These questions are the focus of the "Plastic Planet" project at Konz High School, which is currently being conducted in cooperation with the Konz Municipality.

A few years ago, the school took on a stream sponsorship for the Konzer Bach, which means that as part of projects, pupils check on the water and learn important things about the ecology of streams.

On Thursday, they investigated the level of microplastic pollution in collaboration with the University of Trier's plastics recycling workshop. Larger plastic debris was fished out of the water.

Photo: The project group at the Konzer Bach with the deputy mayor Guido Wacht and the project manager, Jürgen Kopp.

Guido Wacht, the full-time councilor of the Konz district, visited the young researchers on site. He emphasized the importance of such projects for understanding ecology and sustainability and thanked the supervising teacher, Jürgen Kopp, for his commitment. The further renaturation of the waterway in the next construction phases will also provide more opportunities for the stream sponsors to explore the waterway.

To conclude the current project, the eleven students will learn on Friday how to recycle the plastic waste collected from the Konzer Bach stream and gain insights into the process: cleaning, shredding, and injection molding. Plastic waste is turned into things like rulers and Ludo, which they can take home.

Other cooperation partners of the project are the Rotary Club Saarburg and Trier and the Angela-Merici-Gymnasium Trier.