Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is an environmental charity established in 1990 to campaign for clean, safe recreational waters. SAS undertakes conservation, education, and research to protect oceans, waves and beaches. Their campaigns have addressed issues like water quality, marine litter, and climate change through community organizing, petitions, and raising awareness. SAS now mobilizes thousands of volunteers for beach cleanups and educates the public on responsible behaviors to reduce pollution and protect coastal environments.

1. Social Action Research
Name: Alan Smith

2. The client: Surfers Against Sewage
Overview
The mission statement of Surfers Against Sewage is:
‘Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is an environmental charity protecting the UK’s oceans, waves and beaches for all to enjoy safely
and sustainably, via community action, campaigning, volunteering, conservation, education and scientific research’.
Established in 1990 by a group of passionate, local surfers and beach lovers in the picturesque north Cornwall villages of St
Agnes and Porthtowan, they started to attract large amounts of media coverage for a stunt which saw many people sitting on
toilets. They started in order to campaign for clean, safe recreational water free from sewage effluents, toxic chemicals, nuclear
waste and marine litter.
The aims behind the organisation come under two major points.
-To undertake and promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection, improvement and ecologically sustainable
management of the marine environment including associated land, shoreline and structures.
-To advance the education of the public in the conservation, protection, improvement and ecologically sustainable management
of the marine environment including associated land, shoreline and structures.
They were first seen as ‘meddling hippies’ however now they have been taken very seriously with even the Queen celebrating
their success by cleaning up hundred miles of coastline in the UK.
According to the website sas.org.uk, the organisation is funded by ’ongoing environmental initiatives, community events and
campaigns through membership subscriptions, individual and corporate donations, grant making bodies, profits from the sale of
merchandise, supporter fundraising events and project sponsorship’.

3. The issues:
Surfers Against Sewage campaign on all issues in relation to conserving the oceans, they started their own ‘Protect Our Waves’
petition with the primary objective to raise awareness and bring the attention to the surf spot they consider to be part of the
UK heritage.
Issues: One of the biggest threats is a lack of awareness or engagement from the local surfing community, so questionable
development or consistent pollution issues pass unchallenged. We cannot afford to be apathetic in the face of coastal threats,
effectively tacitly endorsing pollution, over development or any other threat. We must have a voice on these issues.
The petition of ‘Protect Our Waves’: The aim of SAS's Protect Our Waves petition was to generate at least 50,000 signatures to
highlight the value of surfing waves and locations to the UK government.
Impact: 55,000 ‘Protect Our Waves’ Petition signatures delivered to 10 Downing Street. The campaign was a success and
achieved what it set out to do, raise awareness. The impact now is that people in high places of power can start to make a
change at a bigger level.
Some of the other campaigns include looking at Marine Litter, Water quality and climate change. The organisation still wants to
challenge more industries to adopt better standards in order to protect the coastlines, create much more volunteering
opportunities for the public and educate communities. There are many campaigns looking into the many problems
contributing to the waste in the coastlines, some more looked upon by SAS are the toxic chemicals and shipping. Shipping
makes 3.9% of the marine waste whereas chemicals and medical waste makes 0.2% (Looked at in further slides).
Stephen Gilbert, MP for Newquay and St Austell:
“Some of the best surfing waves in the UK are found in my constituency
and surfing is a big economic driver for the area, and for Cornwall as a
whole. I hope that I can help other MP’s recognise the value of natural
surfing capital and the economic value in their own regions and better
protect these environments and those that use them. Surfing has long
since moved into the mainstream and it is important that we better
manage these resources, which keep people coming back to the coast year
round”.

4. Other issues:
Water Quality-
Water quality at the beaches in the UK is a major issue for the organisation. The main threats to the water come
from sewage overflows and diffuse pollution. This is reaching out to the bathing waters at popular areas and surf
spots frequently used.
It is from this where the client, Surfers Against the Sewage started a national movement calling for improved water
quality in the UK. Within this they campaigned over the threats to the quality of the water. The overreliance on CSOs
by water companies is the cause of thousands of short term-pollution incidents at beaches every year.
This initial campaign contributed to pressure for water companies to invest billions of pounds in the sewerage
infrastructure. The campaign on water quality has helped change public perception and attitudes. This had a huge
impact and the water is starting to get better, a major contributor to the success concerning the issue was one of the
many campaigns that was created.
‘Think before you Flush’ was a big success and brought about great awareness to the issues of bathing waters and
marine environment.
The aims behind the Think before you Flush campaign were simple, Create Think Before You Flush communities to
help engage the public, raise awareness of the issue and impacts, and encourage responsible bathroom behaviour to
protect the sewerage infrastructure.
Ensure manufacturers of sanitary products remove plastics to prevent sewage system
blockages and plastic beach litter.
They also want them to educate their customers on responsible disposal of sanitary
products and, in the case of sanitary wipes, to ensure that they never advise of disposal
in the loo.

5. 36.3% non-
sourced
40. 4%
From the
public
4.5% Sewage related
Debris
13.9%
fishing
litter
0.7% fly tipping
3.9% shipping
0.2%
medical
waste
Marine Litter-
SAS is working at community,
corporate and Government
level to tackle the growing
tide of marine litter that
washes up on UK beaches
every year.
The campaign includes small
promotional pieces: Return
To Offender, Break the Bag
Habit, Think Before You
Flush and No Butts on the
Beach.
The impact: Annually, they
mobilise over 5,000
community beach clean
volunteers and educate
thousands of people on the
issue through schools talks
and outside events.
At Government level, Surfers
Against Sewage has joined
forces with three other
leading environmental
charities to launch the Break
The Bag Habit campaign.
Marine litter is made up of discarded
objects. Over the last 15 years the amount
of marine litter has doubled.
I have created this graph to show the
causes of Marine Litter.
This was created through
looking at the figures behind
the marine issues on the SAS
website.
It is clear that the major marine
litter comes from the public.
The public is the major contributor due to them not being aware of having
different attitudes to the damages it can cause.
The smaller issues such as Fly tipping do not seem as important, however with
more people adding to marine litter this is a concern., especially as there is no
need.
From this we can see the issues needed to
address. Medical waste, sewage related debris
and fishing litter can all be looked upon.
This should be done through educating the
people responsible. It is from this idea of
reducing the main 40.4% of the issue (The
public littering) where the break the bad habit
has come in. A great way to reduce litter.

6. Climate change- Surfers Against Sewage is a committed
member of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition (SCC), the
UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action on
climate change and limiting its impact on the world’s
poorest communities.
How SAS suggest the issues can be slowed less
damaging: Car sharing, energy switching, saving water,
travel consideration and switching off appliances. From
this, SAS want to keep global warming as far as possible
below the 2°C danger threshold.
The campaigns behind this issue are that of, the climate
change report, offshore energy guidance and stop
climate chaos coalition.
Issues to come: (Source: Climate change- A surfers perspective)
Impacts from these are Environmental, coastal and wave
protection issues.
What is being done?
The 2008 UK Climate Change Act is legislation to ensure the UK
reduces its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050
(80% below levels in 1990) to help avoid catastrophic climate
change.
The ‘Stop Climate Chaos Coalition’ campaigns for the UK
Government to take practical action to keep global warming as far
below the 2 degrees C danger threshold as possible.
They call for the Government to make Climate Change a priority in
the UK and make Climate Change an international priority.

7. Facts and figures:
Useful facts concerning the client:
-Hepatitis A, a sewage-related pathogen, can survive for more than 90 days in sea water.
-A plastic bottle may persist in the marine environment for more than 450 years if left on a beach.
-37.4 percent of marine litter comes directly from the public.
-Over 30,000 combined sewer overflows discharge untreated sewage into UK rivers and beaches.
-70 percent of marine litter sinks, 15 percent floats throughout the water column, 15 percent ends up on beaches.
-The Safer Seas Service warned of 1,500 pollution incidents in 2014.
-300,000 whales, dolphins and other cetaceans are killed annually by fishing equipment.
-Cigarette butts contain toxins such as cadmium, lead and arsenic, polluting up to 8 litres of water.
-Approximately 8 million individual pieces of marine litter enter the sea every day.
-£18 million is spent on removing beach litter annually by Local Authorities.
-There are more than 99 sanitary items per kilometer of beach surveyed
-The Safer Seas Service warns of pollution events in real-time at 323 beaches around the UK.