Signed up members of the SAS 250 Club

 

Whatever the weather, summer is usually the time we head to the beach. And this year more than most, you’ll likely have headed to a beach in the UK. We’ve often popped down to the beach for a morning dip and ended up staying all day – this year we wanted to give something back.

Surfers Against Sewage is an environmental charity dedicated to the protection of oceans, waves, beaches and wildlife. They campaign loudly about hugely important issues close to our hearts. 

“We were borne out of people’s visceral connection with the sea and their response to the pollution ruining our coastlines, whether that is sewage pollution or throwaway plastics. This direct connection with the ocean is what makes us unique and drives us in our mission for cleaner seas.

Surfers Against Sewage doesn’t describe exactly what we do anymore. Together, we’re much more than our name suggests. We’ve made great progress on cleaning up our beaches from sewage and the cleanliness of our seas remains in the DNA of the organisation. But our new priority issue is marine plastic pollution. We work on other issues too – climate change, water quality, coastal development, but plastic pollution is huge and needs a lot of attention.”

This year Swim Feral joined the SAS 250 Club, helping support Surfers Against Sewage and their projects. Our membership will help fund their education programme, beach cleans and campaigns to protect the marine environment.

The success of SAS lies in their campaigning and the community of ocean activists they have built. There are so many ways you can support the work that they do, here are just a few to get started:

Sign the ocean and climate petition

As the hosts of COP26, the UK government has a responsibility to make sure the ocean is at the forefront of climate negotiations. Sign the petition today to demand that the voice of the ocean is heard within the climate crisis.

Find out more here: 
sas.org.uk/ocean-and-climate-petition

Million Mile Clean

Help organise your own beach clean and connect up your efforts with other volunteers. You can either run a clean and get your whole community involved, join a clean in your local area, or do a Mini Beach Clean in your own time. Beach, street, river or mountain, you can clean anywhere, anytime. All of your cleaning action counts towards the million-mile goal.

Find out more here:
beachcleans.org.uk

Know your brands

As part of their Million Mile Clean, volunteers help contribute to a brand audit of the litter collected – helping identify the main offenders and drive corporate behaviour change. Just 12 brands are responsible for nearly half of all packaging pollution.

Read their most recent brand audit here:
SAS-BrandAudit2021-Digital.pdf

Find your own plastic-free community

SAS has created a community-led network tackling single-use plastic from beaches and green spaces all the way back to the brands and businesses who create it.

You can find your local community or sign up to lead your own community and work towards a Plastic Free Communities Accreditation. And a community can include schools and universities.

Find our more here:
plasticfree.org.uk

Join + donate

Donations help Surfers Against Sewage to keep on campaigning and doing great things.

Add your support here:
sas.org.uk/donate

All images: Surfers Against Sewage