Wear your waste, around your waist!

The OceanZen 'SeaChange' beach clean up!

Recently, we hosted our 'OceanZen SeaChange' event on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland to raise awareness for the amount of household waste we produce. The aim of the game was to wear your waste around your waste –  (turn your household waste into an awesome bikini or budgee smuggler!). And WOW, did we see some awesome creations!

There were braided plastic bag headbands, burger box bikini tops, beer box hula skirts and the ultimate waste tool belt! Even our furry doggy friends were rocking their plastic bag bowtie collars– how cute!! We also teamed up for a beach clean along Alexandra Headland, scouring the sand for any peep of waste that we could save from entering our oceans. In 30 minutes, picked up over 204 pieces of marine debris – that’s over 204 marine animals that we helped save! The common offenders were cigarette butts, alcohol cans and micro plastic otherwise known as the root of all evil.

While we had a lot of fun, and definitely showcased our creative talents, SeaChange highlighted just how much waste one household can produce in less than a week. Did you know that Australia is one of the highest waste producers making over 18 million tonnes of waste per year – that is enough to fill three million garbage trucks (Living Smart Qld). What’s even crazier is that each Australian family could fill a three-bedroom house from floor to ceiling with waste every single year (Living Smart Qld). Now multiply that by the amount of years we’re on this earth and that gives you…a whole lot of yuck!

Imagine if we all made an effort to reduce the amount of waste we produce. There are heaps of super simple steps you can take to reduce your waste and impact on the Earth and oceans. These include using recyclable bags instead of plastic bags when shopping, using glass containers rather than plastic glad wrap for your lunch, take a glass jar and reusable metal straws when you go out for smoothies and aim to buy products that are packed sustainably (like the recycled cardboard pillow boxes we package our bikinis in) ;)

Our mission is to clean up the ocean, save the beautiful marine ecosystem and protect the marine life. You can join us by becoming an OceanZen ambassador and by supporting OceanZen in our endeavours to go global by rocking our sustainable swimwear.

Remember, “There is no such thing as away. When you throw away something, it has to go somewhere” – Annie Leonard.