Free wooden bellyboards to fight plastic pollution

Are you hoping to enjoy a summer trip to the beach this year? Maybe try a little surfing whilst you're there?

Well a new scheme is offering the free hire of bellyboards - a type of smaller surfboard - to try and fight plastic pollution.

It is estimated that more than 16,000 polystyrene bodyboards are left on UK beaches each year, according to the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

Now beaches around the UK will be offering wannabe surfers the use of wooden bellyboards as an environmentally friendly alternative.

Wooden bodyboards are being rented out for free

The scheme - called Surf Wood for Good - will be available at beaches across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including in Bournemouth, Cornwall and Grimsby.

It will offer beachgoers wooden boards free of charge until the end of the summer season in October.

Plastic and polystyrene bodyboards have become a big problem for many beaches in recent years, as they are often low quality and are only used a small number of times before being discarded.

Jamie Johnstone, founder of Surf Wood for Good, said: "We hope that the scheme will inspire people to think about what they are riding in the waves and promote a positive change away from disposable plastic in general."

Some beaches in the UK have now banned the sale of plastic bodyboards because of the pollution.

In Croyde, north Devon, more than 400 boards were discarded on the beach in 2020 and in Newquay, beach rangers estimate 20 boards are thrown away every day in the holiday season.

Environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage added: "Plastic pollution is a huge issue, with 8million pieces of plastic entering the ocean every single day."

In 2021, one beach store in Devon hired out free wooden boards designed by local schoolchildren.

Children have decorated wooden bellyboards which are being hired out for free at Westward Ho!

Neil Hembrow of Keep Britain Tidy said polystyrene bodyboards were "like a tidal wave of waste washed up on beaches".

He said: "But a culture change is happening, we are now seeing moves by communities to stop the use of these polystyrene boards and if the pressure grows then hopefully we can get a complete ban."

What do you think of the wooden bellyboards? Would you like to try one? Let us know in the comments.