The Gold Coast experienced one of its most sustainable events to date as Surfrider Foundation hosted the third annual Eco Challenge on Saturday 19th of March. This year partnering with Bleach* Festival, Toolona Street Festival at Tugun Beach, spectators benefited in a 100% solar powered and plastic free affair accompanied by live entertainment and market stalls.
Surfrider Foundation fundraised close to $1,000 for the Rise Above Plastics program, with the mission to reduce the impacts of plastics in the marine environment by raising awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution. Attendees were educated on the alarming impact plastic has on not only the aesthetics of a community, but also the oceans, beaches, and sea life.
It was a popular local event as many gathered to support the program and witness the wooden surfboard competition in which riders used one of the first and most sustainable surfboards on the market, the Alaia. Team Vissla took first place in the Roots of Surfing Teams Challenge with the following competition finishing not far behind: Team Japan, Snapper Rocks, Australian Lawyers Surfing Association, Five Oceans and Juraki Surf Culture. The number of teams increased this year and came from a diverse selection of the surfing community which will be built on for future events.
With a goal to reduce the carbon footprint along the coast, Climate Wave Enterprises provided Zero Waste Stations responsible for collecting over 5,000 litres of rubbish/resource on the day of the event. The system consisted of assigned waste stations with bins for landfill, recycling, compostable and organics. Each waste station was staffed by volunteers assisting and educating the crowd to practice zero waste methods.
In total, close to 63% of all refuse was diverted from entering landfill. Out of this percentage, 28% of resource was recycled and 33% was composted back into soil at the Southern Beaches Community Gardens, Tugun.
ready to nourish
The 1% of organic resource was diverted using best management farming practices. The food scraps were fed to chickens who in turn pooped onto hay in their pens which was then biochared to produce High P biochar approx. 20kgs. Waste minimisation of biochar is at a ratio of 100:1 The biochar was then fed to worms who coated it in calcium and the worm poo was used in Cannabis Potting mix to create the strongest cannabis plants grown to date with The Biochar Project. (Licensed DPI crop)
This is a huge environmental step forward for the Bleach* Festival from 100% of waste going to landfill to only 37%.
The event is also acknowledging Southern Cross University for being a leader in reusable energy. They supplied “The Sunflower”, a solar powered music stage which generated 5.4 kWh in its entirety throughout the event. It allowed for live entertainment from a diverse group of local talent including Kent & James, Gold Coast Hula Dance School Na Pua O Australia, Salt & Steel Music, Dusty Boots Music, Christine Olive, Emmy-Jae & Neem.
Additional sustainable efforts were contributed by Boomerang Bags who provided guests with reusable bags and the Palm Beach MenShed, Mental Health Services Gold Coast who handmade the surf competition trophies. Various prizes were donated from the following sponsors: Sea World, Maywood Handcrafted, Patagonia Burleigh Heads, Radcliff Taylor Lawyers, Stone & Wood Brewing, Barefoot Wines & Bubbly, Surfing Services and Soul Safari Surf Travel.
The annual Surfrider Foundation Eco Challenge will resume next year and will continue environmental sustainability education on the Gold Coast. For further inquiries on the event or to find out how to green your own event, contact Greg Howell, Surfrider Foundation President & Climate Wave Enterprises, Sustainable Event Manager, contact greg (@)climatewave dot com & +61 (0) 414 939 942.
Written by Michele Ziobro, Communications and Psychology intern, Griffith University
Thanks to everyone that supported this event (in no particular order) please show some love for these people, organisations & businesses that support our community 🙂
- Active Travel City of Gold Coast
- Amanda Spooner
- Australian Lawyers Surfing Association (Qld branch)
- Barefoot Wine & Bubbly
- Belle McCarthy
- Ben Lummis
- Bianca Richardson
- Blank GC
- Bleach* Festival
- Blossoms by the Beach
- Boomerang Alliance
- Boomerang Bags
- Brendon Trevaskis
- Brice Laine
- Chad Calderon
- Chris Butler
- Christine Olive
- Cody Campbell
- Compass Hand Planes – Bodysurfing
- Dani Smith
- Dave Johnston
- Donna Anderson
- Donna Smith
- Dusty Boots
- Elspeth Thorpe
- Emmy-Jae
- Five Oceans
- GC Surf Magazine
- Gecko – Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council
- Georgia Marshall
- Gold Coast Hula Dance School Na Pua o Australia
- Greg Howell
- Griffith Centre for Coastal Management
- Hannah Maxwell
- Holistic Living Magazine
- Jessica Geiger
- Jody Thomson
- Juraki Surf Culture
- Kate Webster
- Katie Saunders
- Kellie Lindsay
- Kent and James
- Krurungal Jullam
- Liam Chirio
- Lindsey Bowles
- Liquify Magazine
- Luise Grossmann
- Matt Gillett
- Maywood Handcrafted
- Michele Ziobro
- Monte Rego Photography
- My Perspectives
- Neem
- Pacific Longboarder Magazine
- Patagonia
- Patagonia Store Burliegh Heads
- Patricia Pebe
- Paul Sullivan
- Peter Sturm
- Radcliff Taylor Lawyers
- Rebecca Clarke
- S & K Saunders
- Salt & Steel
- Sarah Blomkamp
- Sasha Leitmanis
- Sea World
- Simon Taylor
- Simon Witt
- Snapper Rocks Surfriders
- Sophia Cassimatis
- Soul Safaris Surf Travel
- Southern Beaches Community Garden
- Stone & Wood Brewing
- Surf World Gold Coast
- Surfrider Foundation Australia
- Team Japan
- Tugun Community Bank Branch
- VISSLA
- White Pipi
- Zia Vaughan-Johnson