Plastic has been with us less than a century, but our love of beach side holidays is also a relatively new phenomenon. The two have grown up hand-in-hand to the extent that it’s now almost impossible to imagine a day at the beach without plastic.
You may possess re-usable bottles, avoid single-use plastic takeaways, and only give your children or pets sustainable wooden toys, but from the lycra in your swimsuit to your three-year-old’s inflatable armbands, right up to the very chemical contents of your sunscreen, plastics are hard to go without. How to do better?
Repair, re-use and re-gift
Existing plastic items can be recycled but also re-used, getting more bang for the environmental hit. Some towns have a “freecycling” community or item-loaning “library” where plastic toys, picnic equipment and other beach paraphernalia might be found – or donated.
This includes inflatables. First, try to ask yourself if the item is really necessary for safety or is it just for amusement? Three million lilos in the UK alone were abandoned in 2018, one study reported by The Guardian found. If you really need to float, look for a second-hand option. If found as a freebie, you might need to repair it, but it only takes a special waterproof PVC patch.
Toys like buckets and spades can be made from wood, sugarcane, or even silicon, which is preferable to other polymers thanks to its durability and reusability, despite its fossil-fuel heavy production process. Or again, try second-hand – see if your destination has a borrowing station for toys left behind, then you don’t even have to transport the thing with you.
Clothing
Most swimwear contains plastic and it’s more sustainable to keep the swimwear you have than replace it every year after only a few uses. But if yours really is threadbare, consider buying new from brands that eschew plastic and fossil-fuel ingredients (elastane) if possible, or go for manufacturers who use recycled plastic, like Econyl, made from textile industry waste and plastic removed from the ocean.
Wetsuits usually contain neoprene, a fossil-fuel-based product, and so-called “sustainable” limestone wetsuits have not been shown to be better. Consider renting your wetsuit. If you must buy, look for Yulex, a natural rubber, used in ranges from Patagonia and Finisterre.
Dryrobes often contain plastic too. Look for those using recycled materials, or hemp – a strong and highly absorbant fibre, and more sustainable alternative to cotton.
Footwear
Much beach footwear is plastic. The Guardian reports that “3 billion flipflops are produced annually” and, every year on East Africa’s coast “according to the charity Ocean Sole, 90 tonnes of flipflops wash up”. Try to find brands of summer waterproof footwear that use natural rubber instead of plastic and that contribute to recycling programmes.
Sun Protection
From its bottled packaging to the contents of the liquid or oil, suncare products contain plastics and coral-killing microparticles and petrochemicals that end up in the water, whether from sea or river swimming or showering at home later. Try covering up with fabric instead or using a sunscreen containing zinc-oxide, but note it will leave a white sheen.
Eye protection
For shade from all that zinc-oxide white glare, consider buying second-hand eyewear, but check UV-protection ratings on older items. Some sunglass companies use bio-acetate frames or even wood.
We may think of sunglasses as consumables these days, but there are a few companies offering repair services and even replacement lenses – so now you can retain your signature look down the decades.
