Les new kids on the block

“Canal Trash Fishermen bathe in SUN while cleaning up the WATER.” It could be the title of a news article of last week trips on the canal.While we our approaching 2.000 persons in our kayaks, the trash meter surpassed 5.000 kg of trash fished out of the water. Which is only a fraction of the […]

BAGS and BAGS and BAGS, World Cleanup Day was a succes thanks to all the motivated people who came to clean up on land and on the water.Year after year the amount of litter is rising in Belgium, our society is flooded by trash and single-use packaging. Cleanups are being organised for people to clean […]

What HAPPENS during all the trips we organise in the canal is amazing, the canal becomes a place to MEET other PEOPLE and organisations. And that is what we have in mind generally for the canal area, to make it a place where people come together and where you can enjoy nature in the city […]

Aujourd’hui, l’équipe RTBF nous a rejoint dans les kayaks pour tourner les images du premier épisode Alors on Change de la nouvelle saison.Les déchets sont venus voir le spectacle en masse. Parmi les improbables, une bougie de Sainte Rita et un ballon zéro-déchets. Un tout grand merci à l’équipe et aux volontaires de @Kaderstudio.Allez voir […]

Many HANDS make the job very EASY. Group after group our kayaks are doing so many kilometers in their hunt for trash. And the trash is never far away.One of the discoveries was a voodoo doll, clearly used in a ritual. If the goal was to drown it in the end, that part failed, it […]

The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the board of directors of the Port de Bruxelles – Haven van Brussel , Yassine Akki and Anthony Baert, subscribed for a Sunday stroll of trash fishing by kayak.Never been so close to the water they witnessed loads of floating trash, dead animals and a greasy kind of water. […]

If everything we find in the canal would be worth something we would be RICH. These last days trash floats on the water in ABUNDANCE.FC Eliza followed their competitors FC Motivée and Les filles du block into our kayaks. They found the weirdest item ever taken to shore. We still could’t figure out what it […]

These New Kids were lucky to be on the water with a bright shining sun. At least some of them. Jolien brought her two young daughters who at first weren’t too enthusiastic, but coming out of the water with a full bucket of treasures (trash) they clearly enjoyed the hunt. Sophie brought three friends from Spain […]

Sigrid SPRUYT, de enige ECHTE, nam plaats in onze kajaks voor de Deposithon. Ze bracht 16 jaar lang het nieuws iedereens huiskamer binnen en viste deze week een volle emmer afval en matras uit het water en zag twee dode eenden, één dood eendenkuikentje, een dode rat en een dode vis. Sinds lang pleit ze […]

New kids ENJOYING the warm water of the canal. Groups of friends, families, colleagues and even a Brussels soccer team. Les filles du block changed their soccer field for the canal and came to defend their colors in trash fishing. What about you FC Motivée, Daring Women or Boobie Trap?  Starting from now our Deposithon […]

SOOO many beautiful people battling against a stream of trash, with only a fishing net and a kayak. But on top of that they all bring powerfull signatures for the Deposithon, which is THE most powerfull way to really fight the trash problem. Special thanks to Klimaan and Plogging Mechelen, last Sunday they collected 225 signatures […]

What happens when you let a BIOLOGIST fish for TRASH and you forget to mention to leave all ORGANICAL MATERIAL in the WATER? He takes out everything, DEAD ANIMALS included. In the canal, where you almost see more dead animals than alive, you easily fish out 6 dead rats, 1 dead duck and 1 dead […]

This week, deputees of Brussels parlement Aurelie Czekalski and David Weytsman brought a little bit of parlement to the canal. Apart from fishing the trash out of the water and experiencing the state of the canal themselves we discussed about Miss Czekalskis Proposal of Resolution that she submitted to parlement. The proposal implies: – To study all […]

These coming days the weather will be BETTER, the sun will SHINE. Did you allready subscribe for a kayak cleanup trip in Anderlecht or Sainctelette? Maybe now is the perfect time!? These people were lucky and joined us in between rain events, fished lots of trash out of the water and delivered lots of signatures. We […]

The Deposithon is rolling, signatures are coming in, trash is cleaned up and everybody is having FUN in the mean time. Hopes are high up. These are Canal It Up pictures from the previous days. Want to join us in july or send us signatures by email? More info on: https://www.canalitup.org/en/deposithon-en/

LUCKILY, in between rain events there is time to go kayakking for the DEPOSITHON. These last days lots of engaged groups joined the ranks. Future engineers from the Polytechnische Kring at the VUB – Vrije Universiteit Brussel, enjoying their free time after the exams, were lucky to be fishing for trash under a clear bright sun. Brusseleir […]

The Deposithon only started and our kayaks our already FLYING. These are pictures of the first two days filled with lots of pleasure, nice encounters and many steps in the right direction. @Cera brought us a visit as well to see how Canal It Up is doing. With their financial support we were able to buy […]

On Sunday Sea Shepherd Belgium swapped their big fleet of boats on the worlds OCEANS for our five kayaks on the CANAL in Brussels. Protecting the ocean can start in the middle of your city. After only TEN minutes 1 kayak came back with a bin completely filled with trash. Check their social media and […]

Saturday 19th of june we went FULL FORCE with 5 kayaks being (almost) permanently on the water! The first bits of trash were taken by Thomas and his family, who immediately found a jacket. At the same time Ciray and her daughter took care of the other side of the canal. As there were still […]

YESSSS! What a sunny day to have these three beautiful persons on the canal. All three employees of the Ville de Bruxelles and responsible for the Contrats de Renovation Urbaine. They came to enjoy the nice weather and visit one of the projects they support.  With the Contrats de Rénovation, they support projects that make […]

What better activity for a sunny Saturday in Brussels than Kayakking for a clean canal!  Koen and Estelle were the first duo to attack the floating trash in the canal! They live very close to and saw the kayaks several times, so they decided to try it out themselves. They were already well aware of […]

Vormingscentrum Molenbeek – Groep INTRO startte met varen op deze zonnige dinsdag, 4 dagen na de grote riooloverloop. Enkele jongeren kwamen zich bewust maken van het probleem in het kanaal. Sarah 15j leek niet meteen geïnteresseerd, maar eenmaal in de kayak zagen we dan toch haar echte lach en bleek dat ze uiteindelijk niet meer […]

Last Sunday the colors were more than bright. So many beautifull people joined us for a cleanup trip in the canal under a blue sky and in a brown canal. More about that brown color in another post. First Eva, Theo, Hanno and Celia each brought a sailing partner to go and fish out the […]

Lots of trash and sun, the ideal recipe for a Saturday of fishing for trash! In the morning Katti, Talita, and Pol each brought a companion to join them on the water. They all went direction Suzan Daniel bridge which is still under construction. Lots of garbage had accumulated there. Next, eight members of the […]

FRIDAY, a good day to get out on the WATER. In the morning BRUZZ came to visit. This time they didn’t come for Canal It Up, they came for a report on the canal itself. The result will soon be published here and on the Bruzz website. In the afternoon, the youth and disability care […]

Newest Kids on the block! Try Out kwam met 3 jongeren. Één van hen was wat later, bij zijn aankomst werd duidelijk waarom, hij was reeds afval aan het oprapen onderweg! De 3 gingen een goed uur varen en hebben door weer en wind, maar ook zon, afval uit het kanaal gehaald. Bravo!! SPELLETJE Ze […]

Despite heavy weather, an enthusiastic team of concerned citizens was once again proudly navigating on the troubled waters of the canal.The first volunteers to touch water were two mates from Brussels and Coventry. As relentless as captain Ahab on their tiny Pequod, they hunted the trash everywhere they could find it.The second campaign we launched […]

The youth takes over the CANAL! This Saturday, Anouk, Marianne and Elisabeth, three students from a secondary school in Dilbeek organised trips with Canal It Up for their ‘Seminaire’ course. What a great idea! They took care of registering 32 motivated friends, family and school members or even new people that heard from it through […]

Regenachtige vaardag op het KANAAL. Sorry aan diegenen van wie we geen foto’s hebben deze keer. Het zal niet meer gebeuren :). De eerste groep was een familie van 4 die op deze hemelvaart-dag goed gekleed waren om de barre weersomstandigheden te trotseren. Terwijl zij vertrokken viel het meteen op dat er veel afval lag […]

Sylvie et ses deux enfants (8 et 10) ont été interviewé par RTL et je dois dire être impressionée par leur élocution! Nathalie et sa famille de 4 étaient super motivés avec le sourire! Ils ont été chercher loin pour pêcher les déchets pour être sûre de ne pas être venus pour rien et ce […]

LABOR DAY, 1st of may, a perfect day to labor through the canal and gather some bins of plastic trash from the water. Nele, our future guide made everybody feel at ease. Nathalie signed up together with Jose who is a Yacht captain. A very fun couple from Brussels and being at home on the […]

Deze dinsdag kwamen de leerlingen van het Koninklijk Atheneum Koekelberg , beter bekent als de KAK, per fiets naar onze docking zone om plaats te nemen in onze kajaks. Alessio was hun gids en legde de problemen en bijhorende oplossingen uit. Hier zijn enkele getuigenissen van Alessio en enkele leerlingen: Alessio: Waarom sta ik hier […]

Saturday, it’s Sunny, a NEW BRIDGE is being placed over the canal and New Kids are HAVING FUN kayakking while fishing the trash out of the WATER.  👩‍🎓👩‍🎓 Annelies and her sister, a happy duo and both studying to become engineers, came to see the big challenges Brussels is facing in his water management. Their […]

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 FAMILY time on the canal. Last sunday, this family of four, with two children aged 8 and 11, signed up for a kayak cleanup session. Even with the changing April weather they were SUPER motivated and smiling from ear to ear. Afterwards they came up with a creative idea for their picture, SOS, no […]

Scouts Vilvoorde Represented! ⛺️🌱 Luckily, youngsters can still come together in small groups. These 7 girls choose cleaning up the canal as one of their activities! This summer, they hope to be able to go to Montenegro, we’re crossing our fingers for them! If not, we will be here for them on the canal under […]

The New Kids of a beautiful sunday afternoon. Erna was zeer enthusiast om het kanaal te komen schoonmaken. Ze is begaan met de natuur en starte daarom met Neat & Nature, een start-up die schoonmaakproducten en zeep maakt uit natuurlijke en reeds gebruikte producten. Ze liet ons ook weten dat ze huidig op zoek zijn […]

Green Team VUB and We.KONEKT.brussels organised a quiz game for the Brussels Water Days. 8 duos won tickets for a cleanup trip with us on the canal last monday. Under a bright shining sun they found TONS of trash in the water. On weekdays like this, more boats pass by so the lock (FR: écluse, […]

One week ago on the day of our activity for the Brussels Water Days, Greenpeace Youth Belgium came to Brussels for an afternoon of trash picking. Some of them in our kayaks on the canal, others in duos in the surrounding streets. They showed lots of enthusiasm and realised that stricter measures like a deposit […]

🎣 Fishing Fishing Fishing, that’s what the volunteers did last Sunday. Full bins of trash. They saw with their own eyes that we have a problem, a trash problem. Mission accomplished. But now what? How to close the tap of the plastic trash that keeps coming? A deposit system for cans and plastic bottles could […]

Sad but true, but we will have to reduce the number of kayak trips due to the new measures. But Saturday 14th of March we had a whole bunch of New Kids. Marthe and her friends Lina, Jilke and Britt got to know Canal It Up for Marthes Bachelor test. They will use the trash […]

Préparez-vous car nous avons eu une journée entière de joyeux Canal It Uppers ! Tout d’abord, nous avons Gislaine et Vincent : ils ont bravé les vents froids pour rassembler le plus de plastique possible ! Ils habitent dans le quartier, près du canal, et avaient donc très envie de faire quelque chose contre la […]

The Safety Jogger team came all the way to Brussels for a cleanup trip. They came bearing gifts with a box of reusable gloves to help us continue our activities. One of them made these beautiful pictures of their time on the water.

If Canal It Up would have been around in the year 1999, it would have looked like this. We would have taken pictures with an analoge camera to stick them in a Canal It Up family album instead of social media. The New kids on the pictures are the youngsters of Try-Out. Try-out is an […]

NEW NEW NEW kids, only with their support are we able to strive for a cleaner and greener canal and Senne. Every week, new volunteers come to the canal to do a shout out for the solutions we propose, the green islands with aquatic plants, a green mobile trash barrier to stop all the trash […]

Alors que le canal était encore gelé la semaine dernière, il faisait agréablement beau ce weekend pour une sortie en kayak. Heureusement, nous n’avons eu à déplorer aucun manque de constance de la part des New Kids qui étaient à nouveau bien présents pour la pêche aux déchets. Et cette fois-ci, les étudiants étaient de […]

❄️ 🐧 Cold, colder, coldest. Last sunday the canal was partly FROZEN. Still, four volunteers were motivated enough to come and fish for trash in the new discipline ICE-KAYAKING. Janne, student in Art science at the VUB – Vrije Universiteit Brussel and living in Molenbeek and Kelly, student in social work in Hasselt, jumped into […]

❄️❄️❄️ 🌨️ Last sunday temperatures plummeted under zero and the apparent temperature was even – 6°C! We could only observe that the warm hart of the Brusseleir doesn’t cool down easily! A beautiful group of heroes put on warm clothes and got into the water. Natalie, a student in Brussel, drafted Lieven who came to […]

❄️ Even during these cold days new New kids germinate from the fertile Brussels soils to come and fish for trash in the canal. These days in the special form of bubbels of two. 🏅 Thomas brought his roommate Fransisco and his own Pocahontas style canoe along. Fransisco works on artificial intelligence for windmills for […]

🚣‍♀️ The New Kids are back! The Bubble of heroes Sjur and Laura got into the water first, with a temperature of 2°C, freezing cold! Sjur comes from Norway but his perfect dutch doesn’t give him away. Together with Laura he formed a fast rowing team. So fast that they lost track of time. They […]

Saturday 24th of october, before the second ‘lockdown’, a whole group of brave people joined us for an hour of trash picking on the water. There were two groups of the American Club of Brussels, people of all ages. They allready joined us on the water before and as well during the big cleanup action […]

3 adolescents qui ont été guidés par l’ecole. Eh oui, The International School of Brussels (Official)oblige ces élèves à faire 15 bonnes actions par année scolaire! Très vite ces jeunes on appris le metier et avec l’un d’entre eux je suis passé en dessous du pont de Sainctelette. Au fait, je n’y étais jamais allé […]

It was a very international cleanup day with a first multicultural team from Spain, Portugal and Mozambique. Elena, Gemma, Helena and Luis all live in Brussels and came to see the trash in the canal with their own eyes. Afterwards came Bart from Belgium and Naomi from the UK. Naomi already became a regular but […]

Samedi 3 octobre, les kayaks étaient à nouveau bien remplis! Les trois amies Laura, Margaux et Fred sont arrivées les premières. Grâce à leur bonne humeur et leur motivation, elles ont aussi bien embelli la journée que le canal! Elles se sont inscrites après être tombées sur une de nos affiches. Une amitié engagée est […]

Le dernier week-end de septembre, la pluie réclamait sa place et nous avons eu quelques annulations, mais il en fallait bien plus pour effrayer ces courageux new kids! Nous avons démarré avec le groupe que Maha avait formé avec Kenn, Maëlle et Giulio. Comme le groupe d’après avait annulé, Maha et Kenn ont continué de […]

New Kids on the Block! Les canalitupiens oubliés de cet été! Gilles et Waski sont venus le jour de la fête nationale. Ce magnifique couple très amoureux ce sont décidés en dernière minute afin de venir nettoyer le canal qui était très sale ce jour de fête, je ne montrerais pas le chat mort car […]

Thursday 17th of september Rebecca surprised her friend Virginia with a trip on the canal, with a lot of excitement, laughter and shouting as a result. After their trip I nicknamed them The ZigZag Girls. Then Ann came to navigate with me. Together we discovered that it was the wind that made the girls zigzag! […]

19 and 23th of september we received 25 New Kids. Lara, William, Anke and Rocio started of this cleanup marathon, and how! After 15 min Lara and William returned with a full bin to empty it and fill it AGAIN! 💪 Kristin joined us for the second time and brought Marleen with her this time. […]

Samedi 5 septembre, Uli, Bertrand, Floris et Lisa ont été le premier groupe sur l’eau. Le fait de savoir que personne n’était tombé à l’eau jusque-là en a rassuré certains tandis que d’autres ont eu une petite montée de stress à l’évocation de cette possibilité. Heureusement, cela s’est avéré inutile et l’excursion s’est bien déroulée. […]

Ce vendredi, Arnaud Pinxteren, échevin de la Participation citoyenne et de la Rénovation urbaine à la Ville de Bruxelles, nous a rendu visite. Ensemble, nous sommes allés pêcher les déchets sur le canal. Dans le cadre du Contrat de Rénovation Citroën-Vergote, la Ville de Bruxelles a attribué à Canal It Up un subside afin de […]

Nous étions 225 participants pendant la grande action de nettoyage de la zone du canal dimanche dernier. Encore un tout grand merci à ces belles âmes et à Jommeke, le chasseur de plastique. Ensemble, nous avons collecté 560kg de déchets! Continuons en gardant nos rues propres et en évitant le plastique à usage unique. Photos@Bram […]

Le 12 septembre fut une journée merveilleusement ensoleilée à Bruxelles! Comme toujours, quand le soleil fait de son mieux, les gens aussi ! Avec Canal It Up, nous sommes sortis en nombre sur l’eau: pas moins de 19 volontaires nous ont aidé pour tenter de donner au canal la même couleur bleue du ciel. Les […]

En ce jeudi après-midi 10 septembre merveilleusement ensoleillé, Fransziska et Hanna ont navigué sur notre canal de Bruxelles. Elles étaient tellement motivées que nous n’avons réussi à sortir leur bac du kayak qu’avec beaucoup d’efforts! Elles étaient également assistées par Zeppe et Elena. Un couple très perspicace qui s’est rendu compte qu’une promenade romantique en […]

Jeudi 27 août, nous avons reçu Ann, Jules, Karina et Odilon. Les deux premiers, mère et fils, venaient de Simonis, juste à côté. Karina et Odilon d’un peu plus loin: Neder-Over-Heembeek. Armés de filets et de seaux, ils se sont attaqués aux déchets et ont réussi à les ramener en toute sécurité au quai. Juste […]

And… Canal It Up is booming 🌴 ! Friday 4th of september we had very motivated New Kids on the canal. And they had to do some effort to find the trash, it was somewhat hiding. Britt and Marjolein, the first group, won the hide-and-seek game and found the trash hiding behind a boat. The […]

Mardi 25 août, un bon nombre de participants ont bravé l’incertitude d’une météo changeante. Le premier groupe a immédiatement souffert, exposé aux éléments météorologiques. Luka, Anna, Marieke, Payam, Nomi et Joanna sont amies depuis leur scolarité à l’institut du Sacré-Cœur de Heverlee. Ils ont rapidement mis un gigantesque morceau de tapis dans le bateau. Top […]

Today we present New Kids Eliza, Céline and Julie! Another group of long time friends who had a lot to tell each other and found a way to do that while fishing plastic in the canal. There was some teamwork involved in our fishing trip. The kayaks crossed each other in the middle, then Céline […]

Two sundays ago, a lot off courageous people came to  help us out, it was real Belgian weather as we normally know it… ⛅🌧️⛅🌧️⛅🌧️ The first ones, Virginie with her son Charles, were lucky… ☀️🌤️ Charles didn’t really like the look and the smell of the water. And he was right, we explained to him […]

Friends who Canal It Up together, stay together!A group of no less than 8 childhood friends, coronaproof divided in two groups, lent us a helping hand. With no fear whatsoever for rain and wind, especially wind, they helped us clean the canal and brightened it up with their enthousiasm. They found a fire extinguisher: one […]

Samedi fut une journée bien remplie, avec un total de 25 personnes qui ont contribué à rendre le canal plus propre. Tout a commencé avec un beau combo belge: Selina et Jill venues en train de Zonhoven, et Frédéric et Astrid venus de Charleroi. Dans une coalition belge – c’est possible – , ils ont […]

Samedi à 11 heures, nous étions déjà sur l’eau avec les New Kids Andrée, Ben et Auguste qui voulaient voir l’écluse d’un peu plus près, donc nous sommes partis direction le centre! En arrivant, nous avons trouvé un ‘trésor’, tous les déchets se cachaient devant la porte de écluse. Après, Laura et Antoine sont venu […]

New kid Rodrigo already lives for a while in Molenbeek and he was wondering how he could help to make the neighbourhood cleaner. Guess who he than saw on the water of the canal? Canal It Up! Together with Esteban, who is originally from Peru and proud to be living in Brussels since 4 years, […]

Dimanche dernier fut à nouveau un jour bien rempli, 18 bénévoles magnifiques! Sergei, François, Sarah et Paul ont fait un boulot incroyable, ils ont parcouru les deux côtés du canal pour être sûr de ramasser tout. Jonah et Ine ont plutôt voulu se diriger vers le centre. Après eux, ce fut le tour de Abdil, […]

Nathalie en Maël (13 jaar), voor de gelegenheid geflankeerd door Hilde, de moeder van monitor Wouter. Maël, een fiere zeescout, kreeg bij het neerzitten in de kayak een stevige splinter in de bips. Dat belette hen niet om even later met een mooie buit huiswaarts te keren.  Met Valérie en Natasha in de ene en […]

Ce lundi après-midi, j’ai eu l’honneur d’accueillir Ilias, Marquez et Stéphane comme premier groupe. Ces 3 mecs radio et photogéniques ont rapidement formulé un slogan facile à retenir: “les rats, on prend pas – le débri, oui”.Cela pourrait bien devenir le credo du collectif ;). Puis, ce fut le tour de Sarah et Jasper. Ce […]

Le tout premier groupe que j’ai (Wouter) pu accompagner pour Canal it up, mercredi dernier, s’est tout de suite avéré être 2 talentueux pêcheurs! Niamh et Jack (6 ans), mère et fils, n’ont eu aucun mal à pêcher beaucoup de plastique, de chaussures, de papier et de mousse de polystyrène dans le canal. Ils avaient […]

Some great expeditions on the canal last week, each of them deserve a word to share! Wednesday evening of their staycation, friends-for-life Bart and Claire took up the nets to paddle with a purpose. Supercool to take them and my girlfriend Ellen on this tropical evening session. After an hour of waste hunting, we finished […]

Grâce à toute l’aide hier le canal qui était bien bien sale, l’était moins à la fin de la journée. Prêt juste avant la drache! 😎 #StaycationBXL  

Friday was another beautiful day on the canal. Ivana and Nathalia were the first group, these experienced volunteers had no problem navigating through our waters. Of course not, Ivana learned how to kayak on the Croatian rivers. They weren’t the only ones to help out, Melissa and Branimir collected kilo’s of trash as well. Our […]

On Tuesday Celine gave us a helping hand, she told us how kids on the Kopenhagen Ferry get a piece of candy if they spot 5 pieces of trash… that would mean a lot of candy for the Brussels youngsters! Aside from all the trash we found a lot of dead animals as well, the […]

A couple of days ago we received a small army of  New kids. Wim, Sophie and Lorenzo made the language barometer rise to unseen heights with their Dutch, French, English and Italian. Cheerfull Benoit, Valerie and art-loving Daria from Brussels showed the best steering skills we’ve seen up untill now. Unseen speeds and maneuverability in […]

The sun seemed to shine a little bit brighter today thanks to our volunteers. First Melanie, Charlotte, Caroline and Loes came to help us, a jolly group full of laughter. Their enthusiasm and teamwork were contagious for all the people looking from the streetside, they received a lot of encouragements. The fishing for plastic isn’t […]

The pleasure was ours to welcome 3 New Kids this Monday. The weather forecast announced rain, rain, rain. Since Canal It Up and the New Kids are not afraid to get wet, we did not let that stop us. Special kudos to the New Kids since they did not only clear the canal, but also […]

New Kids on the block! VUB – Vrije Universiteit Brussel , Green Team VUB Als teambuilding activiteit van het green team kon deze groep niets beter bedenken dan met ons te gaan varen! Gedreven, ondanks het wisselvallige weer, waren ze ten top! Een mini-regatta ontstond spontaan en uiteindelijk kwam de zon dan toch piepen. Wie […]

Yesterday was a fun and intense day. Het Laatste Nieuws came to write an article and Julie brought her dad with her (I am so sorry but I forgot his name (when you’ll tell me, I will say ‘aha’). Afterwards Bieke came with her friend (my memory is the worst, please tag them!). I thought […]

La semaine dernière Collin (l’homme, pas le poisson 😉) nous a rejoint et il a trouvé les dauphins dans le canal incrusté dans le beton près de Comte De Flandre. Il est venu prendre la température pour peut-être revenir plus souvent. Florent, lui, a emmené et initié ses enfants dès leur plus jeune âge au […]

The whole Canal it up fleet plunged into the water on monday. In the green kajak: New kids Nona and Mathijs, originally from just outside Brussels and the heart of West Flanders. They now live and work in Brussels. With a warm evening sun in the background we paddled direction Molenbeek lock and filled the […]

Notre kayak vert a eu la chance d’accueillir les New Kids Myriam et Ana à son bord ce mardi. L’une vient de Macédoine et l’autre des Pays-Bas, elles travaillent toutes les deux à l’université de Bruxelles et habitent près du canal. En tant que citoyennes engagées, elles soutiennent des initiatives locales comme POOL IS COOL […]

New kid Frank has a heart for projects with a sustainable character. Although he doesn’t like to swim in open waters, it didn’t stop him to get in a kayak for Canal it up. It was a ride with a lot of twists, paddling backwards and turning to reach the floating plastic, one of Frank’s […]

On a découvert un talent local ! Le New kid Nicolas avait vu nos kayaks depuis sont appartment au bord de l’eau. Il est venu remplir la poubelle et le kayak le lundi et il a tellement aimé qu’il est revenu le jour après. Au quotidien il est professeur français, il suit des cours de […]

We received some beautifull people in our kayaks today. And by that we’ re not only talking about our friends from Bruzz, who came to make a Staycation clip, but about the New kids on the block Kaat and Margot! Two beautifull souls who are not afraid to make their hands dirty for the good […]

Canal it up est fier de pouvoir compter Pascal Smet et son équipe parmi ses New kids on the block. Ils sont venus se frotter à l’idée Staycation eux-mêmes et ce fut une approbation mutuelle (eux pour l’idée, nous pour les new kids). Tous convaincus que Bruxelles peut devenir de plus en plus belle. Ne […]

New kids on the block Pierre et Sofie aka The Laundry Service. Aujourd’hui à nouveau notre sortie était ensoleillée. Pierre, qui est étudiant physiotherapie à Bruxelles, prétendait de ne jamais avoir navigué un kayak, on est obligé à ne pas lui croire, quel talent, un captaine est né. Sofie a en même temps donné un […]

New Kids on the block Laura et Cedric sont venus spécialement de Leuven pour pouponner notre capitale à l’occasion de la fête nationale. Des gens chaleureux qui ont à cœur le soleil, l’eau et apparemment les oiseaux ! Ils n’ont pas hésité à sauver ce pauvre malheureux. Une fois sur la terre ferme, sec et […]

New Kids on the Block! Ellen, Ines en Willem. They came especially from Mechelen to help cleaning the canal. After a short briefing and a little habituation the cleaning was remarkably fast. The drive from this gentleman and those lady’s was incredible. I had difficulty to stop them. If I didn’t say anything, I think […]

Anna, Lucrezia, Vittorio & John sont les new kids on the block du week-end! Deux couples charmants qui viennent littéralement du block et qui ont vu les kayaks à l’eau alors ils voulaient participer et contribuer à une plus belle vue sur le canal. Ils ont trouvé des choses éclectiques comme une vieille pantoufle et […]

New Kids on the Block ! Suzanne et Émeline. Elles ont entendu parler de nous par une canalitupienne colocataire et 1 semaine plus tard se retrouvent sur l’eau. L’une vit à Bruxelles depuis 1 an et son amie, en vacances à Bruxelles, a choisi l’activité la plus cool à faire à BXL et tout ça […]

New Kids on The Block! Lotte, Hendrik, Lauren, Jell, Roman, Miedas, Nele, Amandine, Ivy, Pieter, Jana, Tristan, Frounswa, Charlotte, Michiel, Nele, Eliah, Olivia, Alessio, ils-elles y étaient tou.s.tes. Embellir le quai et le canal! Une bande de 4 sont même venu spécialement de Gand ! pour cela. C’est si beau. Les gentlemen de @Saintklet, qui […]

Last week these two new kids on the block, Estelle and Sophia (aka birdsaver lookalikes :P) came to help us out!  Exams finished, they were ready to go outside and give nature something back! (Whom I know Estelle and her sister more often do pretty actions, like selling hard shampoo at a low price (@slowly.bxl) […]

Lauren vous présente la newest kid on the block, presque littéralement,  Isabelle! Elle avait déjà fait du kayak et de l’aviron en vacances, donc elle sait naviguer. Maintenant elle fait pro pour canal it up. 😉 Heureusement qu’elle était là car il y avait beaucoup de déchets. On a trouvé un endroit ou une famille […]

New Kids on the block, Steven et Sander aka The Sunspecs, deux grands bonhommes indépendants dans un kayak samedi passé, gérant activement les déchets comme s’ils avaient fait ça toute leur vie ! On a de nouveau croisé une grande quantité de poissons morts de toutes tailles. Un poissonnier y aurait-il jeté son poisson invendu? […]

New kids on the block, Paul, Naomi en Laurens Aka POOL IS COOL. They made it their mission to make swimming in open air possible in Brussels. And why not in the canal in the center of Brussels. For example during weekends on certain time slots when boat traffic is suspended. Unfortunately water quality is […]

Yesterday Birdsaver went fishing with new kid on the block Farah! Aka Freddi Fish (does anyone remember the videogame?).  This nickname because we saw extremely many fish float! Does anyone know why?? On average every 5m I would say. There were more dead fish than trash! We found less trash than usual though. After an […]

New kids on the Block! Maarten, Simon, Steven en Jasper, opgegroeid in de Noordrand van Brussel, werden verliefd op deze stad door alles wat ze voor hen doorheen de jaren betekend heeft: feestjes, vrienden, studies, parken…alles wat je (zondige) jeugdjaren moeten hebben. Doorheen deze jaren zijn twee van hen er als een blok voor gevallen. […]

Birdsaver a attrapé 3 oiseaux spéciaux, Oeil de lynx et les voleurs de Slip. Elles étaient surtout ultra motivées! Elles ont répétés plusieurs fois qu’elles voulaient faire du kayak et puis demandées que c’était bien note. Nous avions plus nos petits filets, donc nous avons du être rapide avec nos mains pour attraper le plastic […]

New Kids on the block! @ Bernard Dombret, Eliah et Olivia! Ce parodontologue à l’hôpital militaire et à la dentisterie de la VUB, soigne donc la dentition du monde-entier. Il est dans une paix intérieur remarquable qui, en lui parlant, vous fait devenir plus paisible instantanément. Il est habitue à faire du plogging (ramasser des […]

New kid’s on the block! River Cleanup 👈, Lauren,  Louis, Steve, Stan, Hugo, Tine, Jasper, Eliah, Olivia, Kevin, Diana, Sebcat, Chloé, Fanchon, Térence, Irène, vriendjes van vriendjes, de VTM!, de VRT!, passanten, vreemde vrijwilligers, curiezeneuzen, de zon, the black lives matter, water matters, consciousness matters! Hopla, sometimes images make matters…PEACE!  et un merci mignon à […]

Old kid on the block Oscar shows the way to New kid on the block, Penelope aka Pop aka the intellectual jurist.Pop is originally from France but has been living the Brussels life for a few years now. She works for a law firm specialized in intellectual property and, dedicated as she is, immediately offered […]

New Kids on the block! Par où commencer? Dr. Chloé Grossen, Simon Delchambre et Nicolas Heydt + un vrai canalitup-IEN indépendant  Louis Lammertyn, ce jeune homme vient nous rejoindre souvent désormais. Vous risquez de le voir arriver avec son propre kayak sur la tête ! Dr Chloé qui après 13 ans d’étude pour soigner […]

Newest Kid on the Block, Djo, aka Prepared. He arrived with injuries from a long bicycle trip the day before, but had his usual smile on, he brought breakfast and had his own gloves to protect his injuries from infection.  We saw a woman getting out of the canal, she had fallen in it and […]

New Kid on the block! Tic et Tac, rangeuses du canal étaient déjà des canalitupiennes en arrivent, sans le savoir bien sûr. Maquilleuse et danseuse vivant à BxL. Elles ont pris en charge le canal comme de vraies. Les murs se sont rapprochés de leur embarcation, mais après concertation elles ont fini par se d’accorder. […]

New Kid on the block, HUGO! Alsacien kayak-en en Alsace. Le poussin mort, les rats, les pigeons ont également touchés ces yeux d’enfants fragiles. De la pure honnêteté de cet homme qui écrit un livre sur la mémoire. Un moment d’apaisement dans la partie la plus large du canal, le vergotedok, nous à, le temps […]

Le New Kid on the Block Louis, aka le Globe Kayakeur, est venu muni de son propre kayak! Ensemble avec entre-temps valeur sure Oscar, The Writer, et Lauren, Bird Saver, nous étions donc 2 kayaks à l’eau, doublement efficace à la chasse au plastic! Louis a acheté son kayak en Colombie et continue a en […]

New Kid on the block ! Stan, brusseleir aux multiples facettes. Travaille dans les assurances, mix de la musique et se forme en tant qu’artiste graphiste. Après nous avoir aidés avec la création de notre 1er logo, il s’engage à nous aider pour les événements futurs. Après quelques minutes d’adaptation, il a très vite eu […]

Eliah, évidemment que se garçon de 8 ans veux venir avec sur l’eau. Le prix : il aperçoit une vingtaine de rats mort et une quantité énorme de déchets flottant sur l’eau (en route pour la mer). Le canal et sale papa et pue. Ben oui, c’est pour ça qu’on est là, bonhomme. On veut […]

Latergram of last week-end when we thaught only going with two in a kayak was ok.   At least there is one positive point about this whole situation and that is the ecological impact it has on mostly CO2 emission and also trash that is thrown out in the wilderness.  Everybody who can  is at home […]

Aaand we are back! Presenting new kids on the block Fien and Oan a.k.a. The New Refreshing Movie Directors! They have studied film in Brussels and are headstarting their careers. We just had 3 consecutive stormy week-ends. After Ciara, Dennis and George there was still some wind on saturday, but at least the sun appeared […]

New kid on the block, Cedric aka Yes Man. No adventure is too strange for him. He has an ability of openess for new people and new experiences that makes him the man with no fears. He studied in Brussels and Paris, worked in Belgium Egypt, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Indonesia and went to South […]

New kid on the block, Lise aka Lisette aka The San Fransisco girl. She grew up in Flanders, studied in Brussels and works in San Fransisco. Recently she saved a woman’s life on a hiking trek in Hawai. She knows what she wants and has amazing ways of reaching all her goals. Together we went […]

Do you know what diatoms are? These are brown-yellow microscopic algae with a siliceous hull, you can find them in every body of water. We collected these algae on two spots of the Canal and they were analysed by the Belgian algae expert Louis Leclercq to determine the biological quality of the water. 74 different […]

New kid on the block, Liesbeth aka The Smiling Soul aka Euphrosyne. Nobody can resist her everlasting smile. She cycled through Europe, goes climbing whenever she can and loves dancing with all her heart, head, arms, legs and feet. She’s so consistent that sometimes things get mixed up and she ends up climbing the walls […]

New kid on the block, Tassilo aka The Poet. Growing up in and around Brussels and some Italian roots made him a quadrilingual person. He takes it up with live with enthusiasm as if he was drenched in it like Obelix was in the magic potion. With some friends he will build already the second […]

New kid on the block, Pierre aka The Semi Anonymous Hero. Lives in a world without social media, spends his time off high in the mountains and changes the Brussels landscape working in remote dusty offices off the grid. He agreed to come out of the dark to use his super-human strengths to help clean […]

New kid on the block, Virginie aka Captain Elevator. Born in France and brought to Brussels by love. She likes challenges like running marathons and besides being awesome she’s just a wonderful happy person. Even though it is getting much colder we went fishing for trash in the canal. Watching the water from the side […]

New kid on the block, Alessio came to fish for trash once more in between all his other activities. One more bunch of plastic in the bin instead of the water. Be part of the solution Not part of the pollution #beatplasticpollution #actionaroundthecorner

New kids on the block, Karen aka The Reader, she can read a book in one day while giving a guided tour in town, Cosme aka The Physicist and last but not least Marianne aka The Naturalist aka The Mom aka It’s Her Birthday 🎉. Together they came fishing for plastic in the canal, and […]

New kid on the block, Joanna aka The Yogini, invited by New kid Vanessa. Born in Poland she went to England for a 3 year PhD and arrived in Brussels 8 years ago to work here. Together they got out there to go and fish for plastic in the canal. The water was fairly clean […]

New kids on the block, Youssef aka The Boss, Carl aka The Double Agent and Vincenzo aka The Courageous One. Together they form a team that builds a school for the children of Molenbeek. In the rain we went fishing for plastic in the canal, with two canoes, double capacity. Two of us were Suited […]

New kid on the block, Beranger aka Iron Man, a man of real power, he can build a house with one hand while the other is making everything his imagination asks him to. Together we got out on the rough waters of the Canal, a lot of wind and waves as if we were at […]

Lauren presents The New kid on the block, Oscar aka The Writer,  goes by the captain-of-the-ship mentality, yelling ‘there is something!’ whilst pointing. Even though we were surrounded by trash the whole time! We barely had to paddle, the trash was never far away. We found a white marker in the water, amazingly enough still […]

New kid on the block, Jan aka Jean The Brusseleir, The philosopher. A real Ket from Brussels, friendly with everybody and helpful to everybody. He already crossed the biggest part of Europe on his bicycle, and is not planning to stop there. The future in his mind looks different than what the world looks like […]

New action on the block, World Cleanup Day, Lauren aka The Birdsaver came to help out to do our part in this world wide action. Before getting into the water we got a little guided tour in the Ocean Plastics Lab exposition. Once in the water we got many encouragements from people on the side. […]

New kids on the block, Andreas, Anke and Laura aka The Helicopter Rowers. They brought their own canoe to double our fleet and it’s a first, expansion is in the air. It started out like turning circles in the water but after we attached both canoes one to the other, operation fishing for plastic got […]

New kid on the block, Luana aka The Radiomaker. Made in Brussels she lives and works here and above all loves her city. Being native Dutch speaking persons in Brussels connections are never far away. It took us 10 minutes of rowing to find out we went to the same elementary and secondary school. Afterwards […]

New kids on the block, Benjamine and Cindy aka The Elegance Dancers. Benjamine was born in France and Cindy in Flanders, both big shot dancers in Brussels they met on the dancefloor and became friends. With the same swing from the dancefloor they came to help us out by fishing plastic out of the canal. […]

New kid on the block Alessio presents his son Eliah aka The Super Kid, a Ket from Brussels raised in both French and Dutch. Today his father taught him how to go fishing for plastic in the canal, but more important that the plastic shouldn’t be in the water in the first place. Elia was […]

New kid on the block, Fanny aka The Warrior, born in Arlon, living in Brussels and fighting for a better world. As member of Gracq St Josse she’s trying to pave the way to a more bicycle friendly commune. Professionally she’s working on Co2 emission reduction on a big scale. And at home there’s no […]

New kid on the block, Rosie aka The Real Kid, she is a primary school journalist for Karrewiet, the Dutch News broadcast for children. While asking questions about the ‘Canal it up’ project she was genuinely having fun fishing for plastic in the water. Seems to be that we went to the same primary school. […]

New kid Véronique presents New kid on the block Adrien aka The Professional Backpack Weight Reducer. Slightly knowing each other from home, they met in New Zealand 9 months ago. 2 months later, after 1 year in New Zealand for her and 2 months for him, coincidence put them in Thailand on the same plane […]

New kids on the block, Cecilia aka The Roommate and Benoit aka The Climber, they fell in love in Brussels almost 3 years ago. They share a love for travel and discovery, so they where immediately on board to go for a trip on the canal to fish for plastic. It became an evening session […]

New kid on the block, Elisabeth aka Pocahontrash, a creative girl flown into Brussels from Flanders. Tell her where you live and she will tell you what kind of trees there are in your street. She loves her city and is always ready to help and make it an ever nicer place to live. When […]

New Kids on the block, Ellen aka Mystery girl and Koen aka The Bicycle boy. There are in love already for 6 years. Ellen grew up in Limburg and Koen in Machelen just next to Brussels. Still, they found each other. The person to take credit for their coming together is still under discussion. Today […]

Lauren presents the New kid on the block, Alessio, aka De Lasso, because he catches every piece of plastic he encounters on his path with his very fast reflexes! Ok, we also turned around in little circles when the piece of plastic was just out of reach. ☺ His life is build up of all […]

New kid on the block Lauren takes over and presents the Newest kid on the block, Katrien aka Motivé! Not only because she plays in the football team FC Motivé, but mostly because she always goes for it! A girl from Ukkel, Brussels, went up to Bruges to share her interest and knowledge in psychology, […]

New kid on the block, Vanessa aka Vanessito aka The Cook, once she invites you for diner at her place, you’ll make sure to invite yourself next time for more of her delicious food. Born in Ecuador, she came to Belgium 10 years ago. Since then she learnt French, became an osteopath, started her own […]

New kid on the block, Johan aka The Doctor, some call him the Michael Jordan of the doctors, he became a proud father for the first time only 3 weeks ago. Another real deal bilingual Brussels person, and is it coincidence that he too is a Birdsaver? While looking for plastic in the canal we […]

New kid on the block, Mamie aka The Tree Climber, a girl that dances with so much enthusiasm she fills the dance floor in no time. Profession: Aerial silks and Tree climbing, her way to translate her connection to nature to other people through workshops. Fears: None, she climbes mountains, swims in ice water and […]

New kid on the block, Lauren aka The Birdsaver aka Rockstar In The Making, a girl from Brussels – the real deal, speaking perfectly Dutch and French. Not afraid to get dirty hands. Friday she tried to save a bird, and again yesterday in the canal a sick paralyzed pigeon floating in the water surrounded […]

New kid on the block, Benny aka The Minister, also The Dad. Specialties of the day: road sign, scooter helmet and two footballs. The objective is to go on the canal at least once a week during the summer months, this week we went fishing trash twice. Let me know if you want to join […]

New kid on the block, Véronique aka The Woofer, back from 1 year New Zealand, she soon starts research in using robots in organical agriculture. They say she’s that much into nature that when she wakes up too early in the morning she goes to read a book on a pile of manure. Today it […]

New kid on the block, Mona aka The Energizer, able to make people do stuff they weren’t supposed to do, she cycles to work everyday and eats plastic for breakfast, lunch and dinner just to make it go away. But not the plastic we collected in the canal yesterday, way to go for a clean […]

New kid on the block, Cécile aka The Dressmaker, insists on putting a bucket under the shower while waiting for hot water. Also the woman who follows me in all my crazy plans. Today we had to stop collecting plastic sooner than we wanted, the bin was filled in no time.  #beatplasticpollution #actionaroundthecorner #titaniclovewithatrashbininthemiddle

New kid on the block, Daan aka ‘The Champion’, always looking for ways to live more earthfriendly. Fishing trash out of the water today we met à turtle 30 cm big swimming in the canal, surprise of the day. #beatplasticpollution #actionaroundthecorner #2ndday

First day of fishing trash out of the canal, 15 kg of plastic!! Let us know if you want to join next time. #beatplasticpollution, #Sainctelette, #actionaroundthecorner