Palm Beach Surf Club is leading the charge in sustainable operations not just on the Gold Coast but nation-wide.
As the first surf club in Australia to receive an ‘Ocean Friendly’ certification from Surfrider Foundation Australia, an honour they have held since 2020, they are on a mission to do what they can to protect the ocean from the impact of people.
Palm Beach Surf Club Executive Manager Daragh Murphy told myGC the entire team considers caring for the environment a priority.
“Our sustainability practices are fairly wide-ranging and eventuated from a conversation we had a couple of years ago with our team about trying to be more environmentally conscious,” he said.
“We have a lot of passionate people on board who wanted us to make a stand and make a difference.
“A lot of the things we did were around removing single use plastic, as that was something we were very passionate about.
“We got rid of our vending machines, we removed all of our plastic straws long before it became mandated by the government to do so, we talked to our suppliers about how they could better package their supplies to us to remove plastic and styrofoam out of their supply chain as much as possible.”
Even the kids activities are environmentally friendly, with GG Enviro partnering with the surf club to produce enviro-fun, educational activities.
“We’ve produced really simple, waste minimizing activity leaflets. We have two themes, and we are currently getting ready for our third one,” GG Enviro General Manager Larissa Rose told myGC.
Mr Murphy said he would love to see other surf clubs follow their lead and implement eco-friendly initiatives.
“I would love all our comrades and colleagues at other surf clubs to jump on board. It is certainly very rewarding. We would love to see every club eventually become ocean friendly whether they are a surf club, sporting club or an RSL. I think it would be fantastic,” he said.
To find out more about Palm Beach Surf Club’s sustainability practices, visit: palmbeachsurfclub.com.au
