Hot Poet: Toni Giselle Stuart
Matched with: The Beach Co-op, South Africa
Poem Focus: Beach Clean-Up Plastic Data

The Beach Co-op began in 2015 when a group of volunteers started meeting every new moon to collect marine debris at our local surf break – the rocky shore at Surfers Corner in Muizenberg. They wanted to do something for the ocean that gives us so much. This vision underlies the work they do today. Although they focus on single-use plastic, their driving motivation and primary ambition is to improve and ensure the health of our ocean. The Beach Co-op is a not-for-profit company. Their mission is to eliminate, reuse, redesign and recycle single-use plastic, which often lands up in our oceans and on our beaches. They work with single-use plastics at all points of the value chain to:

• Remove them from the beach
• Refuse them when making purchases
• Work with brands and companies who want to use less plastic
• Encourage manufacturers to design plastic packaging with a circular economy in mind