Bottles for beaches
Beverage containers have been a major category of pollution found at Surfrider beach cleanups over the years. In fact, across Canada, plastic bottles consistently appear each year in the Ocean Wise Shoreline Cleanups “Dirty Dozen.” To help protect the marine environment, it’s important to find ways to responsibly dispose of these materials.
For the beverage containers you use, the best way manage them is by returning them to a local depot for recycling. This keeps the containers out of the environment or landfills and reduces the amount of virgin materials needed to manufacture new beverage containers.
Surfrider Canada is dedicated to find ways to prevent plastic pollution and that is why we are so excited to announce that we are starting a new fundraising program in Greater Victoria, BC in collaboration with The Bottle Depot that will support our work protecting oceans, waves and beaches.
The Bottle Depot is locally owned and operated since 1994 and is the largest beverage container recycler on Vancouver Island. Throughout their history they have donated over $300,000 to local charities, including Surfrider Foundation. This has been done through the charitable account that Surfrider has at the depot. People who visit one of their three depots can choose to donate their deposit to Surfrider. This account will continue to be available at The Bottle Depot locations, but in 2023 we are expanding the relationship to feature new and exciting ways individuals and businesses can support Surfrider.
Business Donations
Some businesses such as restaurants generate a lot of empty beverage containers. The total deposit generated from all these containers has value. However, some businesses find it challenging to recycle these containers. If this sounds like your business, please reach out. We would like to discuss how we can help.
Charity Drop-off Bins
The Bottle Depot offers charity drop-off bins that can be located throughout the community, where redeemed deposits get donated to charity. If you are a property owner and are willing to host a drop off bin, you would be able to help increase recycling and support Surfrider at the same time.
Bottle Drives
If you or a group/team you are apart of want to support Surfrider, consider organizing a bottle drive. The Bottle Depot offers a no-sort bottle drive where up to 80% of the value of the deposit is donated to charity. Consider organizing a bottle drive and donating the proceeds to Surfrider Foundation Canada to protect oceans waves and beaches in Canada.
If you are interested in learning more about these methods for supporting Surfrider while protecting the environment, please contact Surfrider Canada today: info@canada.surfrider.org
We are also on the hunt for volunteers to support this program as it grows. So if you are looking to be part of a really exciting social enterprise component of Surfrider, please contact the email address above.
