The literal translation of tegelwippen is “tile wiping.” In this context, it means getting rid of tiles. See, most homes in Dutch cities have their yard covered with tiles to make a patio. This makes lawn care easy, as all you have to do is pull the occasional weed from between the tiles. But there’s a new campaign, spearheaded by Remco Moen Marcar, to encourage people to remove the tiles and plant trees and other greenery, in order to cool the city, improve drainage, and combat climate change. And what better way to get people involved than a competition?
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The competition called the NK Tegelwippen began about a month ago and will continue through October, to find which town in the Netherlands can remove the most tiles from their private land, calculated as tiles per thousand residents. Those who’ve already taken the plunge say they are enjoying the outdoors more with cool gardens under the shade of trees. So far, the leader of the contest is the town of Venlo, at 144 tiles per thousand, a total of 14,636 tiles whipped away. The sponsors of the contest arrange to collect and dispose of the tiles, which are being recycled into building material. Read how the tegelwippen is going at The Guardian. -via Metafilter
Source: neatorama