Meer koet, minder afval
Seven floating bird platforms. Three coot couples. Ten happy chicks. And a lot of collected trash. What do these have in common? Together, they form the heart of “Meer koet, minder afval”, a pilot project in Ghent that explores how humans and birds, especially the urban coot (meerkoet), can work together to clean up our city waterways. Coots are incredibly adaptive birds. In cities, where natural nesting materials are hard to find, they have learned to use what's available; they started including plastic wrappers, face masks and other human trash to build their nests. This behavior shows how wildlife constantly adjusts to human environments. Meer koet, minder afval builds on this idea, transforming the coots' nesting behavior into a creative form of ecological teamwork.
How this master's thesis contributes to sustainability?
"Meer koet, minder afval" is an experiment in rethinking the relationship between humans, urban wildlife, and the waste we leave behind, much of which ends up in our waterways. The project demonstrates that sustainability can be lived, observed, and co-created in small, local, yet meaningful ways. From the very beginning, the goal was to find an approach that benefits both humans and wildlife, creating a tangible, circular system that respects the needs and rights of the species we share our cities with, while addressing one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time: plastic and waste pollution coming from urban waters
The project supports urban biodiversity by providing safe nesting sites for waterbirds. These are scarce in cities due to the moving waves caused by passing boats and the lack of natural habitats. This project directly addresses that problem and proposes a concrete, nature-inclusive solution. Another ecological dimension lies at the heart of this collaboration: together with these waste-collecting waterbirds, we remove harmful human waste from the canals, directly benefiting aquatic life.
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