In 2019, WSL PURE announced that the organization would be pledged to a 3-tier commitment which included offsetting its carbon footprint, eliminating single-use plastics and restoring event site coastlines at all Championship Tour (CT) and Big Wave Tour events.
On Saturday, July 27, the World Surf League (WSL) donated 60 public wastebaskets to the City of Saquarema made from recycled plastic from the event signage tarps from the Oi Rio Pro, the 5th stop on the Championship Tour.
Throughout the event window (June 20 – 28), the Oi Rio Pro provided several community workshops to students from the local public schools in Saquarema which included classes on sustainability, micro-plastic removal from the beach and native tree plantings along the Saquarema coastline.
Continuing this legacy, WSL South America in collaboration with the City of Saquarema and representatives from the Federal Legislative Branch of Brazil were in attendance for a ceremony to present the 60 recycled wastebaskets which will be implemented along the beach in Saquarema from the Main Event Site at Praia de Itaúna to the Backup Site at Barrinha.
“This year at the Oi Rio Pro, it was a great feeling to eliminate all the single-use plastics from the event, but finding a sustainable solution to the signage canvases by recycling them into public wastebaskets
Fontes added, “We all need to do our part as individuals, but when an entire sports league can be seen as an example for sustainability with the commitments from PURE, we feel like we’re all moving in the right direction collectively.”
As part of the ceremony, a full sustainability report was provided regarding recycling and waste management of the 2019 Oi Rio Pro and was followed by a community beach cleanup and micro-plastic removal at Praia de Itaúna led by the Saquarema Surf Association, the Mar Sem Lixo NGO and Brazilian governmental dignitaries. The recycled material can also be made into benches, stools, tables and several other objects for public use.
