In July, PETCO once again partnered with Litter4Tokens NPC to keep plastic out of the environment during this year’s Ballito Pro surfing competition.

The KwaZulu-Natal-based community recycling initiative encouraged spectators to take positive action while enjoying world-class surfing by collecting some of the thousands of nurdles that litter South Africa’s beaches.

These tiny plastic resin pellets, also called mermaid tears, are a source of microplastics in our oceans and are dangerous to marine life.

Previously, PETCO sponsored the sand-sifting nurdle trommel, as well as mermaid tear catchers, which can be used both as a sieve to catch nurdles and as a frisbee.

This year, the participants who collected the most nurdles over the course of the event stood the chance to earn themselves a PETCO-branded surfboard or paddle board made from recycled planks and resin from recycled glass.

Litter4Tokens NPC is a recycling campaign that aims to feed, empower, educate, and employ the nation by creating a circular economy. It is also the joint winner of the 2022 PETCO Award in the Best Community Initiative category.

The Litter4tokens and Trash4tokens campaign aims to instil pride and cleanliness in communities while also encouraging hard work, employment and education of the nation. The programme encourages people to collect bags of litter (including recyclables) as they can exchange them to get tokens to redeem at the token shop to feed their families.

Litter4tokens has prevented more than 666 500 bags of ocean-bound litter from reaching the sea. It has also fed more than 133 000 people through the food token programme. More than 1 256 families benefit from the programme each month.

“For us, it’s about understanding that your waste has an alternative use,” said Litter for Tokens area manager Sue Benningfield.

“It doesn’t have to go to landfill, it doesn’t have to be dumped and it doesn’t have to fill the environment. What we can do as individuals is to remove as much as we can from our land. It’s not a difficult thing.

Watch their winner’s profile video here: