They recycle plastic bottle caps in Japan, why can’t we do it here? This is a question I’ve been asking myself and the world. An answer came from an unlikely place. The makers of Aveda hair care have announced they will accept used caps at their salons, and the caps will be melted down and made into new caps.

Caps are the new Butts! Plastic bottle caps are quickly eclipsing cigarette butts as the number one item found on the world’s beaches. In New Jersey, Surfrider Foundation volunteers Dave Storch, Derek Riddle, & Joe Mairo saved all the caps found on recent beach sweeps run by Clean Ocean Action. Clean Ocean Action volunteers saved all the caps from their Sandy Hook sweeps, (the mother load) and in total over 4000 caps were collected in just 3 hours. Aveda parent company Estee Lauder has arranged to pick up the caps and have them recycled with the ones collected by their salons.


Clean Ocean Action's Anna Will and 4000 + bottle caps collected in NJ in 3 hours.

SURFRIDER TAKES TOP AWARD AT GARDEN SHOW
Theme: Protecting Beauty with Beauty

The Newport Beach Chapter's “Ocean-Friendly” garden won Best Theme Presentation at the Spring Gardening Show at South Coast Plaza this past weekend. Created by Douglas Kent, a local landscape designer and member of the Newport Beach chapter of Surfrider, the garden had a beach theme carried through with surf boards, beach towels, and perched sea birds, and was created to show that a garden can be both ocean-friendly and great looking.

The garden was designed to eliminate runoff from the property, the major impact to water quality. It did this using native plants with low water requirements and landscape features such as a vegetated swale, dry creek bed and retention basin to contain water within the garden instead of letting it flow to the street and then to the ocean and bay.

Tree of Life Nursery, Roger’s Garden, Ganahl Lumber and Larry’s Building Supplies contributed to the garden which also won second place in the “competition” division.

For more information, contact: Doug Kent -newair@mindspring.com

Surfrider Foundation's Long Beach Chapter was honored this week by Long Beach City's Vice Mayor, Bonnie Lowenthal, in being chosen as an Environmental Steward as part of the City's observance of Earth Day, April 2008.   Bonnie Lowenthal also represents the 1st City Council District in Long Beach.   Ed Hendricks and Gordana Kajer were invited to accept the award on behalf of the Long Beach Chapter, for their efforts to raise awareness of water quality issues on the City's beaches.

Photo:  Bonnie Lowenthal (center), Ed Hendricks (L, white jacket), and Gordana Kajer (R, black pants) along with other residents who were honored for their work on water quality issues and water conservation. 

Check out the first beach cleanup of our newest Surfrider Chapter in Argentina, Partido de la Costa.





"DECIDIMOS HACER ESTE TRABAJO, EN LO PERSONAL Y GRUPAL JUNTO A LOS OTROS MIEMBROS DE NUESTRO CAPITULO, HEMOS QUEDADO SORPRENDIDO POR LO RECOGIDO EN SOLO 100 METROS DE PLAYA. HOY RECIBI LOS DETALLES DE LA BASURA DISCRIMINADO POR TIPO Y CANTIDAD Y LA VERDAD QUE COMO DECIMOS ACA, ESTAMOS EN EL HORNO, ESA INFORMACION HOY LA VOY A PROYECTAR A 100 KM DE PLAYA QUE ES LO QUE MIDE NUESTRO PARTIDO DE LA COSTA, Y POR SUPUESTO LOS RESULTADOS TAMBIEN TE LOS VOY A ENVIAR.
HAY MUCHO POR HACER, ESTE ES SOLO EL COMIENZO, EN ESTOS DIAS SALE EN LOS MEDIOS DE DIFUSION REGIONALES Y TAMBIEN LO ENVIAREMOS A LOS NACIONALES PARA VER SI ENTRA ALGUNO."


Submitted by Ariel Gustavo Fiocco.

Fifty Surfrider members, armed with signs, voices, and surfboards were ready to rally at the day-cruise gambling ship port to promote the “Pump Don’t Dump” Campaign to pass the Clean Oceans Act (SB 1094/HB 857). El Bano, an inflatable 20 feet tall toilet, was shipped in from Greenpeace Mexico for this event. Designed for elevating clean water issues, it stood its ground at Johns Pass, Madeira Beach, Florida, despite 15 knot winds trying to blow it down. Much of the planning was due to the chapter efforts of Carl, Jake, Julie, John, Michael. and Nicole.

The Clean Oceans Act, currently set to move to the Senate and House floor, focuses on the issue of day cruise gambling vessels leaving Florida ports and dumping the contents of their waste tanks out in open water off our coasts. Millions of gallons of sewage come from these ships annual across the state. The proposed solution is for ports to add in a either a “closed loop onboard system” or set up a port pumping system.

The slogan on the back lid reads playas limpias ahora - Cleaner Beaches Now. Exactly fitting to Surfrider’s Clean Oceans Act mission.

Check out the complete slideshow.

First Coast Surfrider held their 3rd Annual Black Tie & Baggies fundraiser on April 12th at The Atlantic Bar & Club in Jacksonville Beach, FL. Sponsored by Paco's Mexican Grill, the night featured a silent auction, raffle, book signing, live music from Sky Pilot and a fashion show with women's clothing from local boutiques, Rosie True and Jaffi's. Additional event sponsors included The Surf Sanctuary in Nicaragua, Sunrise Surf Shop, Damon Williams, MySurfari.com, SYK Surf Shop, World Gym, Lee's Ice Cream, Ragtime, Gene's Seafood, Arbonne, Bully's, Bali Cargo Co., Half Moon Bay Trading Co., Where Ya Bean and Fig Tree Clothing.

The event raised more than $5,000 for the chapter and had approximately 200 attendees, figures that more than tripled the previous year's results! Funds raised will close the outstanding legal bill from First Coast Surfrider's groundbreaking win over St Johns County for beach access. There will also be money left over to support chapter campaigns including: a storm water outfall water testing program, sand dune ordinance, beach erosion in St Johns County and educational outreach opportunities.

Thanks to George Arco and Danny Barley for photography. They did a terrific job documenting the fun!

Check out the complete part slideshow.

Wrightsville Beach Access 33 has been permanently saved!

The Town of Wrightsville Beach, Murchison/Gornto family, and the Cape Fear Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation worked out an agreement that provides a permanent easement at the one of the Town's main beach access locations. Residents and visitors have used this access for over 40 years.



As part of the agreement, the Cape Fear Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation committed to contributing $15,000 to the purchase of the access. In order to accomplish this the chapter is asking for $33 for 33 to help chip away at the large financial commitment toward maintaining this public beach access. Contributions can be sent directly via paypal.
(just type in capefearchapter@surfrider.org to email box)

For more information and media links check out http://www.access33.org/

Newport, Oregon - The Surfrider Foundation today submitted a report to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) with formal recommendations for strengthening the wastewater permit of the Georgia Pacific Pulp and Paper Mill in Toledo. The report is intended to support DEQs ongoing reconsideration of the Georgia Pacific permit, and bring the agency closer to compliance with state and federal laws that protect water quality. Some of the reports recommendations focus on the need for enhanced monitoring of marine species and the nearshore environment near the mills ocean outfall. Other recommendations provide guidance and data resources for improving scientific analyses used to evaluate potential ecological and public health impacts. The primary outfall of the mill is located 3,800 feet off Nye Beach and the facility releases an average of 11 million gallons a day of treated wastewater in the vicinity of important recreational areas and fishing grounds (see photo with plume). Back in September 2006, Surfrider and four other organizations formally petitioned DEQ to reconsider the terms of the NPDES wastewater permit of the Georgia Pacific mill. DEQ accepted the Petition on October 18th, 2006 and has been working to complete the reconsideration since then. Sufriders Environmental Issues Team has recently met with DEQ staff on this issue and is committed to providing constructive input to support the reconsideration process. Thanks to all who've helped pull this together - Kristen, Liz, Charlie, Melinda, Pete, Roger, Joe, JD, Mark, Greg, and many others! You rock!! To read the full report, please click here:
Surfrider_ScienceBasedRecommendations_GP_Mill_NPDES_Final.doc