victories
As a campaign driven organization, victories are how we measure our impact.
What constitutes a victory?
Surfrider defines a victory as a government decision made in favour of coastal and ocean environment that results in a positive conservation outcome or improves public access. In the past decade, Surfrider Foundation has achieved over 400 victories for the protection of the ocean and coasts!
ban the bead victory
In 2014, Surfrider Vancouver Chapter launched Canada’s first campaign to ban microbeads, called “Ban The Bead”. Volunteers reached out to officials at the City of Vancouver, the BC Ministry of Environment, BC MLAs and federal Members of Parliament to ban microbreads from consumer products - which garnered significant political, public and media attention.
Then, in February 2015 the federal NDP, then the official party of opposition, proposed that microbeads be considered toxic. On March 24, 2015 the House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution to add microbeads to Canada’s List of Toxic Substances and Environment Canada was mandated to complete a scientific review on microbeads. A summary of their findings can be found here.
Following this scientific review, on January 1st, 2018, the Microbeads in Toiletries Regulations came into force, stopping the manufacture and import of toiletries that contained microbeads. Following this, the next phase of the ban came into effect on July 1st, 2019, banning the manufacture, import and sale of most toiletry products that contained microbeads.
Why microbeads?
Microbeads are a relatively new product on the market being first introduced about 20 years ago. Only recently research has discovered risks to infrastructure, ecosystems, animals and humans. With research only beginning to assess these risks it is anticipated that greater damages will be discovered the longer the product stay on the market.
Plastic microbeads appear in many single use products including cosmetics, face washes, body scrubs, exfoliants, toothpastes, laundry and dishwasher detergents. Typically made of polypropylene, polyethylene, nylon or polyethylenephthalate these each product can contain over 300,000 plastic microbeads in one container (tube, bottle, box, etc). Measuring less than 1 millimeter in diameter the microbead is designed to last forever with an estimated life cycle of over 10,000 years. By contrast, the products that use these microbeads, such as toothpaste are used only once and designed to be washed down the drain.