Cornish holiday company, Duchy Holidays, based in Perranporth are collaborating with local surf store, Piran Surf and surf brand Hot Surf 69, to help reduce plastic waste in the ocean. The family run holiday letting agency is supporting PACE Perranzabuloe Against Climate Emergency, with the aim to strip Perranporth of single use plastic bodyboards.
Duchy Holidays will be offering all guests pre-bookable hire of bodyboards and wooden bellyboards from Piran Surf, before they arrive in Cornwall. Families can request delivery to their holiday home, so their board hire will be ready and waiting when they arrive.
By promoting the hire of bodyboards and/or wooden boards, the team at Duchy Holidays and Piran Surf are hoping visitors to the seaside village will choose to hire over buying single-use boards, helping to reduce the amount of plastic litter left on the beach, which ultimately ends up in the ocean.
It has been estimated over 14,000 bodyboards are left on beaches across Devon and Cornwall each year*
Matt Charlton of Piran Surf and Hot Surf 69 says “Promoting hire is a great way of highlighting the problem of plastic waste in our seas and not only does it help the environment, but the quality of our equipment also means people will have a better time in the waves.”
Alongside their option to pre-hire, Duchy Holidays are advising guests on other ways to have a more sustainable holiday. In a recent study, Google found 82% of people say sustainability is more top of mind than before the pandemic, and recorded a 70% rise in the number of travellers seeking sustainable travel options**
Faye Clifton of PACE says of the scheme “As part of our work as PACE, Perranzabuloe Action for the Climate Emergency, we recognised that working to reduce the impact of beach waste could have a really positive effect on our community, visitors and the environment. The proliferation of cheap bodyboards has become a real issue across the Cornish coast and we are supporting Cornwall Council’s aim of removing these boards from circulation, recycling those that get damaged with support from Ocean Recovery and Keep Britain Tidy and providing alternatives and partnerships. Schemes like the partnership between Duchy and Piran Surf are brilliant to see happening in Perranporth and we hope to be able to see real change as a result.”
Marketing manager for Duchy Holidays, Gemma Taylor says “We’re really looking forward to seeing how the campaign rolls out and interacting with our guests to not only be able to talk to them about the plastic waste problem and how we can all help, but to also hear their feedback and ideas on how we can help to strip Perranporth of unnecessary plastic.”
The campaign is part of a wider initiative in Perranporth, where volunteer working groups (including staff from Duchy Holidays) are talking to retailers, suppliers and launching bodyboard recycle bins and beach toy libraries to help encourage reusing plastic, hiring or investing in beach kit to last.
For more information on the #protectperranporth campaign, get in touch with the team at PACE via Duchy Holidays.
*Keep Britain Tidy Beachcare Programme.
**Travel Weekly.
