For the first time, a regional meeting of the GDNÄ took place in the Rhine-Ruhr region between Koblenz and Dortmund on 8 May at the invitation of the Secretary-General. About 400 GDNÄ members live there. 35 people took part in the meeting at the Deutsches Museum in Bonn, not only members, because the program in the vicinity of the Lego exhibition had also attracted some accompanying persons and guests. Most of the participants came from the immediate vicinity, but Dortmund and Wuppertal were not too far away either. All age groups were represented, from young to old.

The program began at 6 p.m. with a short walk through the impressive Lego special exhibition at the Deutsches Museum in Bonn, which shows toys dating back to the 1930s, of course wooden toys first, then plastic toys as everyone knows them. The heart of every Lego lover, whether old or young, was addressed. The Secretary-General then briefly introduced the GDNÄ and the programme of the meeting in Saarbrücken and asked for participation.

Based on the Lego exhibition, the theme of the evening was plastics. In an impulse lecture, the Secretary-General described market volumes and applications in order to address the current topic “Marine Litter” in essence, which led to a lively discussion. Who knows, for example, that every day he contributes to the 60,000 tons of microplastics that we discharge from Germany into the sea every year with tire and laundry abrasion. However, this is rather the minor problem against the 5 to 10 million tonnes of plastics that are flushed into the sea every year, especially in Asia.

In the subsequent discussions over a small snack, the wish was expressed to offer these regional meetings at least once a year. The Presidium plans further regional meetings in the coming year without assembly and is looking for regional ambassadors of the GDNÄ to help prepare these meetings.