We’ll be closing down the final weekend of the festival making sure our beautiful beaches are cared for, joining forces with Surfrider for a Beach Cleanup at Greenmount.

Don’t forget to pack sunscreen, water/snacks (no single use plastic please), comfortable clothes and closed toes shoes.

Volunteer beach cleanups to reduce litter on our beaches and raise awareness about plastic pollution, and are essential to keep our beaches and coastline clean.  We are all part of the solution and together we can restore our coastlines, one beach at a time.

After the cleanup, stick around to help count, weigh and enter the data into the Tangaroa Blue Australian Marine Debris Initiative database.

About Surfrider Beach Cleanups:

Since humble beginnings Surfrider Foundation has maintained its campaigning efforts to eliminate plastic from our ocean. Whilst beach clean ups are not the solution to the cause of the problem, they believe engaging with the community is actively necessary to promote conservation, activism, research and educational endeavours. Surfrider want participants to walk away more knowledgeable and inspired to protect our ocean, waves and beaches. They host corporate, school and community clean up events and utilise the Australian Marine Debris Database to record data and analyse our beach clean up efforts.
Beach clean-up events inspire passionate volunteers and connect people to the land through a meaningful sense of empowerment. Providing education to volunteers facilitates efforts to Rise Above Plastics. Alongside efforts at removing debris from our coastline, the solution is to target plastic pollution at the source which we encourage through the national Ocean Friendly campaign.

About Surfrider Gold Coast:

Surfrider Foundation Australia is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our ocean, waves and beaches.

The Gold Coast branch is one of Australia’s oldest branches with more than 25 years’ experience in local coastal management issues covering the geographic area between South Stradbroke Island to the north and the Tweed River to the south. This coastline boasts internationally recognised, world class point breaks: Burleigh Heads, Currumbin Alley, Kirra Point and Greenmount – Snapper Rocks. From our early days in 1993, the State of our Surf Report (SOS) was a key project which saw the creation of an environmental database of Australian Beaches. In 1994 we submitted a report that led to South Stradbroke Island being included in Marine Park status. 1999 saw the launch of the ‘Hold onto your butt’ campaign with the support from David ‘Rasta’ Rastovich and Michael ‘Munga’ Barry. Jumping forward in recent times, Surfrider Gold Coast branch proposed that their world class breaks be recognised on the national level. In 2012 our iconic surfing breaks were formally recognised as a National Surfing Reserve. This 16km stretch of the Gold Coast is now recognised as a World Surfing Reserve, through the Save the Waves coalition thanks to continuous lobbying by some determined locals and Surfrider volunteers in 2018. Our iconic beaches and surfing breaks are recognised by the local government through ‘The Surf Management Plan’ after Surfrider’s petitioning for a plan to maintain our iconic surfing amenity and beach users. The Surfrider committee meets regularly to discuss local issues, plan events and engage with the local community to help protect our waves, ocean and beaches. To learn more about local cleanups and events follow @surfridergc and become a Surfrider Foundation member.