WATCH: Joburg’s Street Surfers highlight the global plight of plastic pollution

It seems like the ocean is not the only thing making waves these days. The scourge of ocean plastic starts in the big cities and city dwellers are unaware of the disastrous impact it has on marine life.

Corona and professional big wave surfer, Frank Solomon have joined forces with Joburg-based waste-pickers to highlight the global plight of plastic pollution by producing a thought-provoking documentary, Street Surfers, that aims to educate viewers of the importance of these waste-pickers.

Following a screening at Maboneng’s Bioscope, the documentary premiered on the National Geographic channel last night, 5 November and followed Solomon as he journeyed with two ‘street surfers’, Thabo Mouti and Mokete Mokete – showing the direct link between Joburg’s waste pickers and the betterment of the ocean.

“I think it’s amazing what you guys are doing. The inspiration behind the film was trying to connect the big city life with the ocean a lot of people I think are disconnected from the ocean. Within a big city like Johannesburg the ocean seems a long way away. And I think the message that we are trying to get across is that plastics and the waste that we throw the ground and waste has an impact on the environment. It’s up to all of us not just people on the coast to help protect it,” Solomon said.

Bringing together two completely different worlds, Solomon thanked Corona for the work they are doing and appealed to other big companies to start doing the same. He urged people to have a look at the award winning documentary to open up their minds and start doing something about the plight of pollution in our oceans and say no to plastic.

Street Surfers has already received global attention and is on the official selection list for a variety international film festivals. Recently it took top honours and won Best International Short Film, at the London Surf Film Festival (LSFF).

“With the Street Surfers film, we’re bringing awareness to these unsung heroes who forage the rubbish in our suburbs and cities sorting it into recyclable bundles of glass, plastic and paper. Whilst they are doing this primarily for their livelihood, the effect of their efforts have resulted in South Africa ranked as one of the best performing countries when it comes to recycling. We produced the film to tell the nation and the world about these heroes and to remind everyone that we all have a part to play in protecting our paradise. It is a collective effort,” said Sifiso Pule, Corona Zone marketing manager.

Earlier this year Corona continued its efforts through the #ProtectParadise initiative, in partnership with Parley and World Surf League. The #ProtectParadise mission aims to engage audiences globally on a clean-up network that is present in over 23 countries and has resulted in 537 clean-ups, 25,000 volunteers and more than 3-million square meters of beaches cleaned to date.

Watch Street Surfers below: