Swimwear as an Invisible Source of Microplastics
10. June 2026
Clean Solutions for Clean Water: Van Remmen UV Technology Becomes Mileage Partner of DANUBE 2850
Dutch UV-C specialist Van Remmen UV Technology takes on sponsorship of 100 kilometres of the Danube – joining a growing movement of companies that want not just to use Europe’s water, but to actively protect it.
Van Remmen UV Technology – more than just a technology – It’s the team that counts (from left to right: Christian Miesner, Angelika Miesner, Ton Van Remmen © Van Remmen)
Some partnerships simply fit. When a company that has spent more than 25 years keeping water hygienically clean and safe meets a scientific expedition measuring exactly this water across ten countries – then that is no coincidence, but consistency. We are delighted to welcome Van Remmen UV Technology as the new Mileage Partner of the DANUBE 2850 project.
Van Remmen takes on sponsorship of 100 kilometres of the Danube, which becomes a direct drinking-water source for millions of people downstream before the river flows into the Black Sea.
The Mission: 2,850 Kilometres for Europe’s Water
In summer 2026, extreme swimmer Dr. Joseph Heß will swim the entire Danube – 2,850 kilometres through ten countries in around 60 days. What sounds like an exceptional sporting feat is in truth a scientific expedition: more than 250 water samples will be taken, analysed for microplastics and published on the Global Map of Microplastics.
This closes a gap that has existed for years: the Danube – a direct drinking-water source for around 20 million people – had never before been fully mapped for microplastics. The results feed directly into EU briefings and create the scientific basis that policymakers need to act.
Van Remmen UV Technology: Using, Reusing and Returning Water
Founded in 1999 by Dutchman Ton van Remmen, Van Remmen UV Technology is today a European pioneer in UV-C water disinfection and treatment. The idea grew out of an experience: in the 1990s, Ton van Remmen worked on irrigation projects in Asia and saw first-hand how valuable efficient and clean water use is. He brought that conviction back to the Netherlands.
Today, with its headquarters in Wijhe (NL) and its site in Tönisvorst (DE, North Rhine-Westphalia), the company stands for clean solutions around the use, reuse and return of water. At its core: reliable UV-C technology for chemical-free disinfection, along with the AOP system Advanox™, which removes even micropollutants and pharmaceutical residues from water. Thanks to a unique flow-management system and energy-efficient low-pressure lamps, both solutions are among the most energy-efficient in their segment.
This is exactly where our paths meet. We work on solutions that don’t just make water clean once, but protect it for the long term. While Van Remmen starts at the point of treatment in the area of micropollutants, we provide the data basis and methods for the microplastics analytics and removal of microplastics – making the invisible burden visible in the first place – to tackle the microplastics crisis. We join forces in the EU project UPSTREAM and, with an innovative 4th-treatment-stage-plus, demonstrate what is already possible today when it comes to water free of microplastics and micropollutants.
What Mileage Partnership Means
As a Mileage Partner, Van Remmen takes on 100 kilometres of the Danube route. Each of these kilometres is scientifically evaluated and permanently linked to the name Van Remmen UV Technology on the Global Map of Microplastics. A stretch of river thus becomes a piece of responsibility – traceable, transparent and documented for the long term.
A Sign Across Borders
That a section of the Danube is carried by a Dutch company underlines the European spirit of the project: water knows no national borders, and water protection must not either. From its source to its mouth at the Black Sea, the Danube belongs to all the people who live along it and from it.
Water is precious to all people. For more than 25 years, we have been striving for a world in which we not only clean polluted water again, but also keep clean water clean. With DANUBE 2850, what too often remains invisible is made visible. Taking on 100 kilometres of the Danube is, for us, not sponsorship but lived conviction.
Wasser 3.0 invites further companies to become Mileage Partners of the Danube expedition and to make the first complete scientific mapping of the Danube possible together. Because: every kilometre counts. For science. For policy. For water.
