CT ChapterSurfrider Foundation - CT Chapter

Rise Above Plastic Connecticut!

The Surfrider Connecticut Chapter would like to thank Patagonia Westport for their generous support! Without their grant money, this project would not be possible!

International Rise Above Plastics Campaign:
Surfrider Foundation is currently engaged in an active campaign entitled "Rise Above Plastics" and has even teamed up with Jack Johnson on his latest tour in order to educate concert goers about the negative impact of plastics to our ocean. As a conservation organization, Surfrider Foundation is actively engaged in educating and activating the public on how to live an "environmentally-friendly" lifestyle. We are concerned with the ongoing detriment to our ocean ecosystem and wasteful use of our natural resources posed by the ongoing unregulated use of plastic bags. Surfrider Foundation implores you to help lead the nation with this progressive approach to this environmental hazard. Every bit of plastic that was ever produced still exists today, and much of it ends up in the ocean. RAP endeavors to spur citizens to take actions - at home, at the store, at the city hall. Each of us depends on plastic in some form every day, but it is a convenience choice, a decision that can easily be swayed toward the proper environmental path…reusable bags.

Project Information:
Connecticut’s coastline is used by windsurfers, kite-surfers, kayakers, sailors, joggers, hikers, sunbathers, and swimmers to name a few. Thus, pollution on Connecticut beaches and in the Long Island Sound adversely affects a variety of beach-lovers. During the last International Coastal Cleanup, in which the Surfrider Foundation participates each year, 400,000 volunteers collected 7 million pounds of trash. Plastic bags were the second most ubiquitous item collected in the amount of 1,377,141 bags or 12% of the total. The first most collected type of litter was cigarette butts. This year’s report focused a lot on wildlife which can become entangled in plastic or ingest it. Last year’s clean up, volunteers found 443 animals entangled or trapped and of those, 268 were still alive and were released. Specifically in Connecticut, the International Coastal Cleanup collected 1,124 paper bags and 5,187 plastic bags (found by cleaning 60.9 miles of the coast).

Funding from Patagonia allows Surfrider-Connecticut to initiate its Rise Above Plastics Connecticut! program to drastically reduce the alarming statistics above. Our plan is to design and purchase signs for stores to encourage the use of reusable bags (“We Support a plastic-bag free Connecticut” or “Protect Long Island Sound and CT Marine Life: Don’t Forget Your Reusable Bag” or “Plankton NOT Plastic: Go Reusable!”); design and purchase shopper-friendly reusable bags to be handed out to shoppers after they take the Rise Above Plastics Pledge, which states: “I pledge to rise above plastics and reduce the amount of plastic waste I generate on a daily basis by doing one or more of the following: Take reusable cloth bags to the store instead of getting plastic bags; Use a refillable bottle instead of buying single-use plastic water bottles; Reuse or recycle all plastic containers I buy; Buy products with the least amount of packaging; Not litter. If I smoke, I will bin my butts!” Surfrider will interact with shoppers to take the pledge and receive a free bag through the many events we organize throughout the year and through tabling in a number of stores, not just grocery stores.