Finisterre, the cold-water surf company for example, designs built-to-last clothing made from responsibly-sourced fabrics, and innovative packaging made from compostable corn starch that keeps non-biodegradable plastic to a minimum. It’s little surprise that some of the retailers leading the way are surf companies, whose whole business model is predicated on healthy oceans and happy swimmers.Įxtended producer responsibility (EPR) can take many forms, including innovative product and packaging design, explicit end-of-life instructions, and financial incentives for recycling. Retailer responsibility has generally stopped at the shop door, but there are companies setting an example by taking responsibility for their product and packaging beyond the point of sale. There’s no one culprit, but it’s undeniable that the rise in single-use plastic – think food packaging, the stuff holding your newspaper supplements together and, of course, the polybag encasing the t-shirt you just ordered online, is a big factor. With the level of marine litter consistently rising year on year, this cost is only set to rise.
For the UK, this means local authorities spend approximately €18m (£14.2m) (pdf) each year removing beach litter. The OSPAR Commission claims some 8m pieces of litter (pdf) enter the oceans and seas daily.
So what are surfwear companies, so closely reliant on both thriving sales and thriving oceans, doing to set the standard? What can be done to stop the wave of waste entering our oceans becoming a tsunami of trash? According to campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) (pdf), at least one thing is clear: we need to build greater producer responsibility across the supply chain and hold principle polluters to account.
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