WOOD bodyboards are rented free of charge in an attempt to reduce polystyrene pollution.
Campaigners claim thousands of Styrofoam body boards are thrown away on UK beaches every year, sometimes after just one use.
Stores in Devon, Cornwall, Sussex and Pembrokeshire will now offer wood planks for free rental as a ‘sustainable’ alternative.
Jamie Johnstone of Dick Pearce Bellyboards in Newquay sends wooden boards to 10 surf shops to rent for free.
Styrofoam bodyboards are often left on the beaches
“People can borrow them everyday, but the idea is that they will realize how fun they are and that they will last forever,” he told the BBC “I live in Newquay and I got so sick of seeing all the styrofoam boards being thrown on the beach, there’s a pretty obvious problem. ”
Attention was drawn to the problem in 2010, when more than 200 discarded boards were collected in Polzeath in North Cornwall.
In Croyde, North Devon, more than 400 boards were thrown on the beach in 2020 and in Newquay, beach rangers estimate that 20 boards are thrown every day during the holiday season.
Westward Ho! in North Devon has already banned the sale of polystyrene panels.
A free boarding house rental program in the seaside resort has been put in place by the Plastic Free Torridge campaign group.
He said more than 16,000 inexpensive polystyrene boards were thrown on UK beaches each year.
Spokesman Andrew Cross told the BBC: “They are of poor quality and bad for the environment.
“Polystyrene is fragile and easily crumbles, posing a danger to life at sea and on land.”
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-05-22 05:20:00
