A lot, hopefully!
As surfers, we love spending time in nature, enjoy pristine beaches, and getting away from civilisation.
Finding those pristine beaches is getting harder though, and places that used to be a paradise getaway, like Bali, become more known for its polluted beaches than the remaining few pristine ones.
Our 5 tips to do your bit this July:
1. Think about where you buy your surfwear from, what it’s made of, how long it will last and what to do with it after you’re done with it (Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle!).
Our tip: look for surf brands that use Econyl – yarn made from nylon waste, like our local legends at Salt Gypsy.
2. Consider buying boards and accessories made of more sustainable materials – such as wood and bamboo, or a second-hand board! and make sure your old boards get a new life when they don’t suit you anymore.
Our tip: read more about green surfboards, such as Firewire and Channel Islands who are committed to reduce their environmental impact, and the Ecoboard certification here. And check out SmartLeash Co – the repairable legrope!
3. Use surfwax and sunscreen made without harmful materials – the majority of your wax and sunscreen you apply before you go for a surf will end up in the ocean, so let’s make sure we’re not adding to the pollution in our oceans.
Our tip: look for products that are ‘natural’ and ‘chemical free’, such as our fav Surfpaste sunscreen and Treehugger surf wax.
4. Bring a coffee cup and a water bottle! After the surf you surely will go for that cuppa or need some rehydration – reduce your plastic bottles and single-use coffee cups by bringing your own.
Our tip: buy a few reusable cups from the op-shop, to make sure you always have one in your car, at home and at work!
5. And always bring your own bag for when you go shopping and go plastic bag free.
Our tip: Encourage your local community to join in with the Boomerang Bags: volunteers from all walks of life get together to make re-useable ‘boomerang bags’ using recycled materials, as a means to provide a sustainable alternative to plastic bags and put them at local grocers to provide shoppers who forgot to boy bag to use the Boomerang Bags instead of plastic bags. For more info on Boomerang Bags, click here.
What is your pledge this Plastic Free July?
The planet and our future generations are thanking you for any action you take.
Single-use plastic facts:Plastic is around forever – every piece of plastic ever made still existsIn the first 10 years of this century, we produced more plastic than the entire 1900sAustralians use more than 6 billion plastic bags a year – if tied together, they would form a chain long enough to go around the world more than 30 times.More than 100,000 marine mammals and up to one million seabirds are estimated to die each year from plastic ingestion or entanglement.Plastic can kill repeatedly – after a seabird or mammal dies from ingesting or becoming entangled in plastic, that plastic will re-enter the ocean and could entangle, or be ingested by another animal.
