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Two young women have been collecting waste from the Rhine for months. They are now supported by 30 people.
In the beginning there was a shard. This is exactly where Karin Brunner stepped when she wanted to go swimming in the Rhine near Basel a few months ago. The accident gave rise to an idea: to free the banks of the Rhine near Basel from its waste by diving.
Legend:
After ten minutes, the three divers have each collected a sack full of rubbish from the Rhine.
Dominic Ash
Equipped with simple diving goggles, a neoprene suit and swimming shoes, Karin Brunner and her colleague Diana Gunzenhausen have been climbing into the Rhine almost every day for a few months and fish out everything that the people of Basel throw into their local river: sewing machines, sunglasses, dentures , knives, game consoles, empty bottles and endless shards. Within ten minutes a large backpack is full of rubbish.
The Basel “Schradenmeer”
“We’ve also found stolen goods,” explains Karin Brunner. The doings of the two women did not go unnoticed. Meanwhile, they are supported by almost 30 other divers. They have even joined together in an association that bears the descriptive name «Rheinjekt».
Legend:
Clearly stolen goods: a whole bundle of credit, bank and point collection cards.
Dominic Ash
One of the supporters is Jerun Dierrsen. He has just returned from a dive at the Middle Bridge. How is it there? “Beautiful and dirty. It has a lot of small fish and an infinite number of shards. Shards as far as the eye can see. That’s why we call this the Basler Scherbenmeer.”
Conflict with city cleaning
Everything the divers find is then deposited in the city’s existing waste baskets. In this way, passers-by should be able to see what their dear flatmates are disposing of in the Rhine.
But the city union doesn’t like seeing these mountains of rubbish. She just leaves the rubbish behind. “The result is that people throw the stuff back into the Rhine,” says Karin Brunner angrily. It is inexplicable to her why the city cleaning department does not take the junk away.
Actually, this is all illegally dumped waste, and we should issue a fine.
But because Karin Brunner and her fellow campaigners don’t put the rubbish in the official Bebbi rubbish bags, they are in principle liable to prosecution, explains Dominik Egli, Head of City Cleaning Basel-Stadt. “We should actually issue buses.”
On the other hand, he does not want that either and therefore appeals to the young divers to get in touch. “Then we put a container there and it’s legal.”
When it comes to waste, Karin Brunner has one wish: “If everyone who goes into the Rhine only took out five pieces, the Rhine would be much cleaner.”