“Hopefully this will be history.” That’s what Dopper Founder Merijn Everaarts said about the Oceanic Plasticarium: 2,700 litres of real-life, disgusting plastic soup. A small sample of the millions of litres just like it in our oceans. We put it on display at the Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, to put people eye to eye with the plastic soup. For the first time ever.

The Plasticarium offered the chance to get up close and personal with a small section of the Pacific Ocean. And (literally) face the problem we’ve all created together. Including some serious press coverage, the message reached over 22,5 million people.

The goal? To break down this issue that so often feels ‘too big to do anything about’. To empower people to feel ownership and show them they can do their part. And, to simply put the plastic soup in a museum. Because one day (soon), it will become part of history.

Speaking of ownership, thanks to a limited edition of the Black and White bottles people were able to claim their part of the oceans to protect from single-use plastic. Printed with unique coordinates, these Doppers represent squares of the ocean. Just like the one we put on display. Because when it comes to doing our part for the oceans, the answer is black and white.

Do you know which countries around the world offer safe, clean drinking water straight from the tap? Neither do a lot of people. Which is a shame. If they did, they’d know exactly where they could help save our oceans, on holiday and at home. Simply by choosing to drink from the tap. And so, we decided to tell them.

Together with Schiphol Airport we created the Water Gate Experience. An immersive informative experience inspiring people to drink tap water at home and on their travels. During two weeks, we welcomed over a million people from 180 nationalities. Talk about making an impact.

To empower all those newly inspired people to keep reaching for the tap, the limited edition Evergreen bottle was introduced. And, in a Dopper first, an official social media influencer campaign was set up around this bottle and its message.

Twelve key influencers and thirty micro influencers from the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium joined us to help spread the word. While we spoke to travellers at Schiphol, the influencers shared our message with their international community online. Potentially inspiring hundreds of thousands of them to drink from the tap.

Every year, Dopper says ‘thanks’. During our annual Seacret gathering, we thank everyone who is part of the wave. All the people involved in spreading our message of crystal clear water. In every ocean, from every tap.

We also take the opportunity to reiterate its importance. In this case, by showing everyone that plastic is hiding in plain sight. In waters like the London Thames, the Amsterdam IJ, the Rijn and Schelde. We know, because we took samples. And put them on display.

Seeing the microplastics polluting their waters with their own eyes, left over 400 people present more motivated than ever to continue the fight. Which is why we got them involved. To help spread the message further, we launched the Dopper Glass, right then and there. And asked everyone to raise their Glass with us, to crystal clear waters.

Sounds bad, right? It is. But it’s also good news. Because it was Dutch non-profit organisation The Ocean Cleanup who made this discovery. And then developed The InterceptorTM to do something about it. By 2025 Boyan Slat and his team aim to have Interceptors in all 1,000 of these prominent polluters.

Naturally, we decided to get involved. With a joint live stream on Facebook of the first demonstration in the port of Rotterdam, bringing this ocean-saving moment straight to the homes of our online community. Those who were present in real life, could enjoy a thirst-quenching water cocktail made by the cocktail shakers at our water bar. To top it all off, the Dopper Glass 1000 Rivers was unveiled during the event. As a limited edition, the bottle raised awareness and funds for this new plastic-extracting technology. Cheers to that.